Chapter 2: Invasion

The two tall men walked silently into the door, a stark contrast to the Kaleidoscope of motion, color, and sound that was a typical day at Jam Pony. They were tall, probably six foot three, older, and heavily built. Both of their faces were hard and unforgiving and their steely gazes moved over the couriers in silent assessment. Both were dressed in similar dark outfits, slacks, dark shirts and leather jackets. They paused for a moment just short of Normal's desk. They took very little notice of those that passed them up, not even flinching at the inevitable impacts with some of the couriers. Several of those who chanced to run into the two nearly fell in reaction to their unmoving forms. The stern looks seemed to deepen into frowns as they stepped forward again in unison.

Normal had taken immediate notice of the two as they entered, even if the moron's working for him had not. Everyone else just plied around their large forms as if they were two more of the pillars running down the center of the building. Such as water avoiding stones in a stream.

"Can I help you, gentleman?" He asked as they strode by his desk, heading toward the locker rooms in the back. They had not even acknowledged Normal's snide attempt at courtesy. Normal's usual frown deepened at being ignored. Undaunted by their size or their demeanor, he slid out from behind the desk to confront the two of them, "Excuse me," he said in his sternest "talking to a moron" voice. He cut around them standing stiffly before them as they came to a reluctant halt, "If you have business here, then I'm the man you need to see."

The two men paused momentarily, looked at each other, then back at Normal, and in unison they both pushed him to the floor. The impact was a resounding crack followed by the thud of Normal's body as he contacted the deck. Normal slid several feet before stopping with a thud against the workers lockers. Everyone stopped in their tracks as all eyes turned to where Normal lay and then to the two men standing like stone in the middle of Jam Pony's lobby.

Several nearest the door took this as a bad omen and made a hasty exit not wanting to be there when it went down. Original Cindy slowly stood from where she had been sitting on the couch and painting her nails. Her mouth hung slightly open and her eyes had widened just a bit at the sight of Normal sliding across the floor to nearly knock himself out on the lockers.

Now she was not a fan of Normal, and she loved to push his buttons just to hear the gears in his head grind, but even he had not deserved that. Waving her hands several more times to ensure the latest coat of polish had dried she moved cautiously to Normal's side. He was adjusting the glasses on his face as she stooped down next to him.

"What's the Dealio with the Terminator rejects?" She whispered as she helped Normal to his feet. Normal was struck speechless at the assault and Original Cindy, shaking her head, moved him over to the couch she had just come from, "Time to blow this scene," she muttered under her breath. She straightened and turned back toward the two men, beyond which the door beckoned her. She stepped forward but the man nearest her stopped her advance. The grip on her shoulder tightened, quickly becoming painful, "OK," she said as if it was no big deal, throwing up her hands, "I didn't have anyplace to go anyway..." and turned around and sat on the couch next to Normal's stunned form.

The larger of the two men nodded toward the other and they split up presumably to search the premises for what they were after. No one inside of Jam Pony dared to move, fearful of the two strange men who had trapped them at work. Original Cindy wondered why, they couldn't be fast enough to catch them if they decided to leave. But even she was not willing to test that theory. Several minutes later they both returned as if the move was choreographed. Both indicated silently that their search had proved fruitless.

One finally broke the eerie silent communication between them to say, "What now?"

The other looked over at the few riders still in the building, "We wait, someone here knows her."

The large one turned to the couch and picked Normal up again, "Back to work..." he said in a low threatening voice before pushing him back toward his station behind the desk. Normal looked at him belligerently but did what he was told. Slowly as if he was in pain, Normal resumed his place behind the desk. He retrieved his headset and replaced it in his ear. All the while his eyes never left the two dark figures inky blots amongst the floral colored clothes decorating the area around them.

Max rode hard toward the Jam Pony office. She was already behind schedule from her last run, "Damn Normal...Figures he'd give me a run half an hour before the end of my shift, and four sectors away to boot," she grumbled under her breath. It was already dark and this was cutting into her playtime! She thought again about telling Normal to stick this job in his ear and walk (or ride in this case). But she knew she wouldn't she was too proud to try and live of the charity of others, as Normal so eloquently put it. She sighed, she was sure that Logan would help her out until she got back on her feet, "Right like you want him to have anything more to hang over your head," she thought smirking.

She had found herself cheating, cutting into some deserted back alley and testing the limits of her Manticore stamina and speed. The buildings moved by her in a blur, and she had only microseconds to swerve and avoid the trash strewn in the alleys and avoid a spectacular crash at the speed she was going. The chain and the wheels whined in protest at the speed at which they were being forced to operate much beyond their tested rating. It was exhilarating, like escape and evade, but much more interesting. She would slow to normal human speed at the sight of someone else. The only thing that dampened the joy of the ride was the pressing time limit that was going to make her late, no matter how fast she rode to return home.

Max knew that she was going to miss the rendezvous with Original Cindy and Kendra, for their Ladies Night Out at Crash. She sighed, "I finally get a night off as Eyes Only personal investigator only to get slammed at work, was I born under a bad sign or what?" Her two best friends probably already pegged her as a no-show and went to Crash without her. She shrugged to no one, oh well she would just catch up with them there and say better late than never. They would understand, Max knew, though she would have to gripe about it for while just to make herself feel better. Damn him, he was such a thorn in her side.

She rounded the next bend and hung a left into the entrance of Jam Pony sliding to a perfect stop in front of Normal's desk. She looked up as she righted her bike again, ready to read him the riot act for the callous, last minute assignment when she got a good look at his face. Alarms rang in her head at the sight of him. Normal was pale and sweating, and there was a fresh bruise rising on his right temple that had not been there when she left. Only then did she realize just how quiet it was in the office. She looked around noticing that no one was moving through the place as if they had to be somewhere yesterday, even at this hour that was unusual. People who worked for Jam Pony just did not hang out after hours to be social. With Normal as a boss they left as soon as was possible.

Her eyes moved over the gathered crowd of riders and locked on Original Cindy, who looked just as scared as Normal did. What was going on here?

Max's gaze shifted again as movement caught her eye. Her heart dropped to her shoes, it was two of the South African Soldiers that had almost captured her the month prior. She had gotten away only because of Logan. Somehow he had figured out that she was in trouble and showed up like a knight on a white charger and pulled her fat from the fryer.

Her first instinct was to stand and fight... but she was unwilling to expose her fighting prowess to those she worked with. If they saw that she would never be able to work here again, "That point may be moot anyway," she thought sardonically. After all they would surely figure out that these two were after her and there would be some hard questions to answer. How would she explain that?

Normal would probably attribute it to her total delinquency in his eyes, assuring himself that she was in some shady business on the side. Telling himself that these guys were here to collect money she owed to some thug. Little did he know…as outrageous as that sounded it was nowhere near as outrageous as the truth.

Max decided quickly, turning tail and running, listening as the bike hit the ground as she cleared the door. The two soldiers were in hot pursuit behind her, their heavy footfalls closing the head start she had taken. She could hear the collective in drawing of breath from her co-workers and Original Cindy yelling encouragement at her back. If only she knew.

Max did not retreat far, turning to face her assailants after only two blocks. She assumed her best fighting stance watching with a thudding heart as the two of them rounded the corner and rushed toward her.

"I guess these two didn't learn their lesson," she whispered under her breath. Her heart dropped as she found herself wondering where the other one was. She chanced a quick glance around her half expecting the third soldier to be rushing her from the opposite direction. There was no one there. Quickly she turned her attention back to the others closing the ground between them.

Max held her ground until they were nearly on top of her. As the first reached her, she rolled to one side, jumping to her feet next to the soldier. She kicked out sideways before he could react to her proximity, catching him in the knee and she watched him buckle even as the sickening pop echoed off the close walls. He did not seem to feel it trying to regain his feet only to fail when his knee would not support him. The scene appalled her, wondering why he would not stay down with what should have been an excruciating injury. Something Logan had told her about these guys surfaced in her mind. They were possessed of short-circuited pain receptors and super adreanlized bodies, they felt no pain, and they could take several bullets and remain able bodied. They could die without ever feeling their wounds.

"Well he ain't doing much fighting on that knee," she thought and turned her concentration to the remaining adversary.

This Red moved more cautiously closing the gap but staying out of range of her attack. His eyes narrowed as he assessed her abilities looking for a weakness in her fighting style. Max quickly tired of them circling each other in the middle of this dank, smelly alley and stepped into the danger zone, lashing out with a foot. He feinted to one side avoiding the blow, and before Max knew what had happened he had wrapped her foot in both hands. He twisted her foot, giving he no choice but to move with her foot rather than allow him to break her ankle. The move served to roll her whole body, and as soon as her opposite foot cleared the ground, he lifted up and threw her down the alley. She landed hard crumpling against one wall, but she pushed up quickly knowing that he was bearing down on her. Max executed a flip with a half twist to end up behind him, following the maneuver with a kick that caught him square in the small of the back sending him sprawling instead.

Max wrestled with her conscience for a few moments as she approached the down soldier. She didn't want this guy tailing her until she was captured. He was beginning to get to his feet again, and she made a hard decision. She reached down grabbing the back of his head and his chin and twisted quickly listening to the sickening crack as his neck broke. She stepped back as his body slumped to the ground again as she life left him, feeling dirty somehow for breaking the promise she had made to herself about not directly killing. Feeling nauseated she listened to him gasping for air.

Max looked over to the other soldier knowing she should do the same to him. The thought brought a fresh wave of nausea and she found herself revolted by the prospect. "Some supersoldier you are!" The thought pinged through her head in Lydecker's voice, "Can't even stoop to finishing the enemy!" She shook her head vigorously to get that phrase out.

Max looked down and away from the soldier still trying to get Lydecker to stop talking in her head when she saw something between her and the soldier that she recognized. She walked over and picked it up. Her Pager...The casing was covered with a myriad of cracks and many of the internal components were exposed. Why would they have her pager? Then something occurred to her. Original Cindy had contacted her shortly before the incident with the Reds. That was how they had found Jam Pony. But so had…Max gasped.

FLASHBACK:

Logan's voice over the phone: "Hey I've been paging you all morning."

"Little run in at the hotel. Had to bail in a hurry and left my pager."

Present:

"Logan..." she whispered fearfully.