A/N: This is in response to a Challenge on Cape Haven. The challenge was to write a Max/Logan ghost story no longer than 1,500 words.
Now, Look What You've Done
"Now, look what you've done!"
Logan's words of praise echoed over the now-empty rooftop where the Freak Nation flag waved. Max walked around, looking at the skyline of Seattle. She had negotiated a standoff with the police, with no loss of life, gotten the hostages at Jam Pony released, and had managed to humiliate the Phalanx soldiers and Ames White. Not a bad day's work.
She sat on the roof ledge, daydreaming, gazing at the Space Needle.
"Now, look what you've done!" The words swirled around in her head, echoing over and over again – "Now, look what you've done!" – now evolved from a paean to rebuke.
"Now, look what you've done!" Max snapped her head around, looking for the person who was speaking, who was twisting Logan's words. She squinted into the rising sun and discerned a figure standing a few feet away from her. The figure was female, slim, with platinum hair, and lips and nails the color of dried blood.
Renfro!
Max rubbed her eyes, not believing what she was seeing.
"Why are you here? You're dead!"
"I came back to see what you've been up to since Manticore was cauterized and you let them (she swept a hand over the rooftop) all out. Are you satisfied with how it's turned out?"
"Why should you care?" Max asked with a hostile edge to her voice. "You're dead."
Renfro shot her a look of – pity? "I had such high hopes for you, you know. With your perfect DNA, you were going to be the mother of a new generation of enhanced beings. My contacts had even found a suitable mate, with similar DNA, in France. I was arranging for the two of you to meet when you decided to come back and cause all that havoc."
"Me! Cause havoc? You're the one who set off the fires and burned Manticore to the ground," Max protested.
"I had to. Your – boyfriend had revealed our location. It was the only option I had. Orders from the Committee." Renfro circled Max like she was stalking prey. "But you're the one who came back and let all the – experiments out. You should have let well enough alone."
"Right, like I was going to let him die! And the transgenics imprisoned at Manticore. I think not, you arrogant bitch!" Max jumped up and stood face to face, or as best she could given the circumstances, with Elizabeth Renfro.
"You should have stayed and realized your glorious destiny. Instead, here you are, on a rooftop of a toxic waste dump, leading a ragtag band of cooked-up creatures. Are you satisfied?"
Before Max could answer, the door to the roof opened and Logan appeared. He looked concerned.
"I thought I heard voices. Are you OK, Max?"
"Yeah, just having a blast from the past. Logan, meet Elizabeth Renfro. Doctor Renfro, meet Eyes Only."
While Logan's face wore a puzzled expression, no doubt because he couldn't see who she was talking to, Renfro eyed Logan up and down. He squirmed nervously under the invisible gaze of the woman who had caused him more heartbreak than he had ever experienced in his life.
"Not bad, 452. At least he's tall and well built. So this is Eyes Only, who caused me so much grief. I'm glad – well, I guess glad's not the word, is it? – to finally meet you."
Logan moved forward, toward Renfro, as if to shake her hand. Renfro tilted her head, listening intently.
"What's that whirring noise?" she asked.
Logan stopped in front of her, peering over his cracked glasses. He stared into the glittering morning sun and answered, "It's an exoskeleton." Max looked at him in amazement.
"You can hear her?"
"Yeah, seems that way. Just can't see her."
Renfro circled Logan, like she had done to Max earlier. Her face shone in enlightenment. "I recognize you. She called you Logan. You're Logan Cale." If her feet had been touching the ground, Logan would have been able to hear the click of her high heels.
"And how would you know that?" he asked the area of the air where the voice came from.
"I've seen the news reports. It is news, you know, when one of Seattle's elite gets himself shot up. The police hoverdrone film was pretty graphic."
She turned back to Max. "Jesus, 452, you ruined everything Manticore ever did, all we had planned for you, you got me killed – for a cripple?" She shouted.
"Hey! Let's not be name-calling!" Logan admonished.
"Well, you must have nine lives, Mr. Cale. The mayor's thugs couldn't kill you. The virus obviously didn't – I guess you got the antidote into your boyfriend on time, 452 – "
"Yeah, no thanks to you!" Max muttered between clenched teeth. "And Alec didn't kill him either."
"Alec? Ah, yes, X5-494. Well, he always was a screw-up. Never send a boy to do a man's job. Did you really – copulate with him?" Renfro's ghost laughed at the thought.
"None of your business!" Max spat.
For the first time, the ghost of Elizabeth Renfro noticed that Logan wore several pairs of latex gloves.
"Ah, clever. Takes the worry out of being close, eh?" she quipped to Logan, pointing at the gloves. He looked at Max, silently asking her to explain the reference.
"The gloves, she's talking about the gloves."
"Ah, right."
"I guess you used up all the antigen on that one shot?"
"Yeah, you didn't bother to tell me the dosage before you checked out, so I used it all," Max said. "Couldn't take the chance of it not working."
Elizabeth Renfro glided over to the edge of the roof and looked down. "Too bad. You could have gotten several doses out of it. Didn't even leave enough to have it replicated?"
"I wasn't thinking of – future possibilities," Max admitted, walking over to Logan.
"Didn't find a cure, either." It was a statement, rather than a question.
"Not yet – but we will," Logan said.
"Ever the optimist, Mr. Cale? Not worried that your beloved will accidentally touch you? Must be very stressful, having to wear those gloves in order to be close to her. I hope you don't develop an allergy to latex," Renfro taunted.
"Wasn't planning to," Logan replied.
"We will beat you, you bitch, you know that! I'm getting tired of this conversation," Max said. "Come on, Logan, let's get out of here. I have work to do." She turned away from her unearthly visitor and walked toward the door, with Logan at her heels.
"I guess I've worn out my welcome," Renfro stated. "I am so disappointed in you, 452. You could have been the mother of a race of super humans. Future generations would know your name – you'd be famous. Instead, here you are, trapped in Terminal City with a bunch of mutants, wanted by the police. You're hooked up with a man who can't even walk without high tech assistance, and who can't touch you for fear of dying. What kind of life is that?"
"It's my life, that's what it is. It may be strange to you, and it may be dangerous, but it's mine," Max declared, reaching over to Logan and taking his hand. "I'm here with my family and my friends, and with the man I love." She squeezed Logan's hand and he smiled at her. "I wouldn't trade it for anything you could offer me. So I guess you should just go back to hell or wherever you came from."
There was a loud, deep sigh from the rooftop as the apparition vanished.
"Well, that was interesting," Logan said, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Yeah, just can't ditch the ghosts of Manticore, no matter how hard I try. But at least all they can do now is annoy me. I guess that's progress."
"I guess," Logan agreed.
He opened the door for Max, and they both left the rooftop where the Freak Nation flag flew in the morning breeze.
The End