Summary: three sets of conversations about each other after Max's heat.
Rating: PG-13. Tryin' to keep it reader-friendly.
Pairing: M/A – duh, as if I'd be writing anything else!!
Disclaimer: Cameron & Eglee own it. I ain't nothin' but an aspiring writer (hehe!) who's obsessed with their creations (especially Alec!! Yummy). Ok, no long disclaimers, people. Can't think of anything to say anyway.
A/N: Log boy's here, and I've tried really hard not to bash him or make his character obnoxious. In this fic, he knows that Max and Alec were never together. Anyway, I'm sorry that I haven't posted for such a long time. Honestly, I've got lots of assignments to do. I've actually already knew what I wanted to write for ages, I just never had the time to write it down. So, to make it up to you guys, here's a super long post.
Dedication: to Cloudburst for leaving a long review. Glad that you like my long disclaimers ;-)
Chapter 6: Conversations about Each Other.
Original Cindy climbs off her bicycle and strides toward an old house. She walks up the front porch stairs and lightly knocks on the door. A man, who looks like he hasn't shaven for a couple of days, answers.
"What's up, Logan?"
"Cindy, come in." He opens the door and steps aside to let OC enter. "What brings you here?"
"You know, just checkin' if my boo's man is a'right. So how you been?"
Logan smiles, "'been better." He walks, supported by the exoskeleton, toward the living room, "But last time I checked, I'm not Max's 'man' anymore…" then he adds under his breath, "…if I ever was in the first place."
OC sighs, "Ok, now, OC's just gonna say this once so you betta listen. Max loves you – hell, I neva seen my sugar more caught up with a brother before! – but her heiny's in a tough spot right now. You gotta give her time."
"Well, you know that I won't ever give her up," he smiles, "'Think I might've come across a guy who could help us with the cure. Asha's checking to see if he's the real deal," he pauses before continuing, "Still…"
"What?"
"Well, even if we get the cure, there's still the whole deal with the military bent on taking her out."
"Why you bein' so negative, fool?! She is gonna get through this. She always does. So we just betta do what we can out here. You'll fight the good fight and OC'll hook 'em up with some of the bare essentials. Check it out, the Original just scored them a couple dozens o' crates of booze. Should be enough to keep the party goin' for months. Oh, and Normal helped. Ain't that trippin'?"
Logan chuckles, "Who would've thought?" He sighs, "So far I haven't found any way out for them though. I could probably score enough fake papers for the X-series, but what about the others? If I can't find any glitch in the military's plan, then they're stuck there."
"Don't try to do too much, fool! OC ain't wanna see yo' ass killed. Max told me to look out for you so OC's gonna do exactly that."
Logan only responds with a slight smile. He bends down to pick up some papers, eyes avoiding OC's. "So did she say anything about TC? What, uh, happened before the heat? Why she was out there?" Logan is almost scared to ask. Why Max was even out of TC is beyond him – good thing though, especially with all those able-bodied male X5s just scurrying all over the place. Logan had seen Max after her cycle was over, but, in her determination to push him away, she barely said a word to him ("This will never work, Logan. Forget about us.") before bolting out into the night.
OC contemplates whether she should tell Logan what her boo almost did before she came over.
She bites her lip, "Now don't freak out on OC, remember, I ain't nothin' but the messenger…" she looks at Logan and waits for him to nod before continuing "…Max almost kicked it in with Alec. They were pullin' a job when the whole seasonal meow bitch hit."
"So she…"
"Nah, pretty boy pulled back at the last moment. Probably why she showed up all sweaty and horny. OC gotta put a couple o' smackdowns on her tail before you sent over Asha." OC smiles at the recollection. When she had called Logan for help, the great cyber-journalist had immediately sent over his new errand girl. That Asha is sure a damn fine honey! Too bad she's all googly eyes for Mr. Eyes Only, though.
Mr. Eyes Only, however – who, unlike Cindy, isn't invoking any thoughts of Asha or her fine ass – decides to interrupt OC's lovely recollection by voicing aloud his thoughts, "I don't get it. Why would Alec – not that I'm not relieved – turn her down? You know, being the happy-go-lucky skirt-chaser that he is."
Logan looks at her, expecting OC – the great batter for the all-female team – to provide insight to the ever-complicated mind of a male X5. She shrugs her shoulders and puts up her hands, "Hey, don't ask me. I ain't understandin' the way you three-legged think."
***
"What can I get you?"
Alec looks up to see Tux, the purple-skinned transgenic, peer at him from across the bar. He can't quite figure out what Manticore was trying to pull when they created Tux, but he just knows that the guy creates awesome cocktails.
"Yeah, just the regular." The 'regular' being Alec's signature scotch on the rocks.
"You got it."
Alec watches as the barkeep disappears from his line of sight to prepare his drink. He has come to the Barcode tonight to clear his head, his earlier encounter with Max still fresh on his mind. Thought I'd never see the day when Max and I don't have anything to say – even pathetically offensive – to each other.
"Alec, you seen Max? We're running kinda low on the ammo count."
Alec looks up to see the ever-short-tempered Mole, puffs of cigar billowing all around him. "Yeah, last heard she was heading to Joshua's, but don't worry, I'll take care of it."
"You better. When those bastards storm in our doors, I want to have something solid to drill back at 'em." Then, before leaving, he adds, "Oh, and I'm gonna need more cigars."
Alec takes a mental note of that and returns to his thoughts. He wonders what Max's doing right now. He'd met Joshua in the mess hall earlier. The canine transgenic was bringing Liberty to see Gem, who was on cooking duty today. Joshua had told him that Max was fine and that she's sleeping on his couch right now. Sensing that Alec might feel uncomfortable about her, Joshua added, "Lil' fella's not mad at you, just confused." Alec had said nothing.
When his drink finally comes, he slugged down almost half of it in one go.
"Hey, take it easy, buddy. Drink's not going anywhere."
Alec turns to face Krit and signals him to sit down.
"Thanks, yeah, I think I'll join you." He calls out to Tux, "Can I get a beer?"
Alec takes another sip, with more restraint this time, "So where's Syl?"
"How would I know? We're not Bonnie and Clyde, you know. She got her own business and I got mind." When Alec doesn't response, he continues, "Yeah, she went to have that 'sisterly talk' with Max. She's ditched me for the night."
Alec shrugs, "Well, hopefully she can twist Max's panties back in place. God knows, she'll be itching to blame that on me."
Krit chuckles, "I think twisted panties are the least of Max's problems right now. But don't worry, Syl's talking you up, buddy!"
"Now why would I want that?"
"Oh, come on. Us X5s have very sharpened sense of observation, you know," Krit winks and points to his head. "Yeah, learnt that from Manticore too…"
"Gee, I never would've guessed."
"… And know what I've observed? You have this thing for her. Why else would you have stayed all this time? I betcha those control freaks back at Manticore wouldn't like you hanging around the rogue 'O9 escapees."
Alec chuckles, "Yeah, they said you guys were 'defective traitors'."
"Really? I always wonder what the old gang would say about us. 'Guess it was a bit much to ask that they'd just wish us well."
Alec doesn't response. He gulps down his drink and signals Tux for a refill. It's a bit weird talking to Krit about this. He can't believe the guy's taking such a light-hearted view on Manticore. Max hates talking about it.
"So?"
"What?" Alec stares at his newly-refilled glass.
"I said 'you have this thing for Max'. That carefully planned remark should've brought more reaction on your part. 'Gotta say that I'm a bit disappointed..."
"What can I say? I liked it here. Good job, boss adored me, lots of heist potentials, lots of booze, plenty of chicks to provide plenty of sex – that is before the whole exposure mess comes to play, of course. After that, any kind of sex with an ordinary just became an unfortunate impossibility. Shame really, 'cause some of them have incredible stamina…" Alec smiles at the images that popped into his mind. There's the redhead with the cowboy boots, the leggy screamer, the aspiring porn star, the blonde with the HUGE… He notices that Krit's looking at him somewhat amusingly, so he continues, "…anyway, it was that simple. Why the hell would I leave? And Max? Well, she just happened to be there, dragging my ass around while she tried to play hero."
"That simple, huh?"
"It's that simple." He takes a big gulp from his glass.
"Sounds good enough. Alright, I'm gonna let you off the hook… For now." Krit takes a drink from his bottle, "So anyway, whatever happened to that dude she was so big-eyed about last time I was here? Logan whatever…"
"Virus."
"What, did he have some kind of disease? I knew there was something shady about that guy; probably why Zack was so keen to take him out."
"No, Logan doesn't have any diseases – not that I know of, anyway; I mean if the guy's got any bug, it's definitely for an uptight-cliché-knight-in-shining-armor-syndrome; well, in his case, it's more like knight-in-shining-exoskeleton…" Alec fumes for a little while, remembering the time Logan had saved his shot-down ass from one of those familiar chicks, and then gloating about it. If Max didn't love him so much… and if I didn't have a frickin' bullet embedded on my shoulder… I swear I'd…
Alec then remembers that he was in the middle of telling Krit about Max and Logan's great love saga. Ignoring the confused look on the other guy's face, Alec continues, "Anyway, while she was back, Manticore gave her a virus that's specifically targeted at his DNA. Basically, if she touches him, he dies." Alec takes another sip, "Oh, and Zack did try to kill him when he got back. That's why the dude's scooping up cow dung right now, instead of acting bodyguard to your little Maxie."
"Yeah, Max told me that she sent Zack away 'cause he's gone 'homicidal'. Never would've guessed that he was after ol' Logan, though. The guy was kind of wimpy, if you asked me. Why would Manticore bothered with him, anyway?"
Alec shrugs, "He's Eyes Only."
"Really? Ok, slightly more impressed…" Krit remembers when he saw the Eyes Only broadcast that tipped them off about Deck. He and Syl had to haul ass pretty quickly; shame, really, 'cause they actually had a good thing going on in Las Vegas. Wow, we kinda owe our lives to Logan. Alright, so the guy's pretty decent. "So Maxie couldn't touch him, huh? That must've put a huge clink on her sex life. 'Guess this guy was really THAT good, huh, for Max to hang around that long?"
"Actually, 'they were never like that'." When Krit stares at him confusedly, Alec continues, "Hey, don't look at me, I never understood why she was so hooked on him. You wouldn't believe the amount of bitching and moping she spent on this guy! You'd think he was the world's greatest catch or something!!" He pauses to order another drink, "But I guess she really did 'love' him; whatever that means. Once, after she came close to killing him, she actually used me as a cover to push him away."
"What, you mean…?"
"Yeah, she gave him the impression that we were screwing around behind his back. I mean, who cares, right, if I actually had a reputation to keep?!?"
"Hmm, never thought my baby sis could be such a bitch… So then what happened? How come he stuck around for such a long time in this hellhole?"
"Well, somehow, somewhere along the way, they kind of forgot about the 'boyfriend' she was supposed to have and went back to their dead-end relationship. For all I care, if Max wanted to wallow in self-pity, then who was I to stop her?"
"And after all this time, they never actually got it on??"
"Well, one time they got this temporary cure that lasted twelve hours, but Max decided to play hero and spent the better hours of her time dragging me through the sewers, looking for this 'thing' that actually wanted nothing more than to play Dr. Sticky-Goo with us. When time was up, she and Logan hadn't got past wine and dancing."
"Ah, the die-hard romantics… Ugh, I'm not sure I want my sister to be with someone who doesn't appreciate the simple pleasures of sex. Life's short, man. Why waste it on dancing when you can have sex?"
"Well, she can't see him anyway, with him being deadly 'allergic' to the chemicals here."
"Do you think she saw him, though, while she was out there? 'Hope she didn't try to bang him, though. 'Cause if she did…"
"Yeah, I know, I know. I'll be responsible for depriving the world of Eyes Only's wonderful streaming freedom video bulletins."
"You could've just given in to her…."
Alec shakes his head at that remark but says nothing. He can't believe that Krit is taking such an easy and uncomplicated view on sex. He just makes it sound so simple. I used to think that way. Then Max has to come along, you know, with her devoted abstinence from Logan and her moral preachings. You'd think she was a nun! A very bitchy and hot-looking nun, granted, but she'd still be perfect for the job…
"So you think she saw Logan out there? Maybe that's why she was all hot and bothered this afternoon?"
Alec shrugs, "My money's on yes. After all, Log boy never misses a chance to see our little Maxie. 'Guess we'll find out when Syl gets back."
***
*WHAM!*
Max's fist slams into the ratty old punching bag. She had gone straight from Joshua's place to this exercise room that some of the X5s had set up near the infirmary. So far it has nothing more than an ancient-looking punching bag, a couple of sets of weights, and a mat used for sparring. She'd actually gone down there a few times to train with Alec.
Alec… ugh, I really don't want to be thinking about him right now. She punches the bag really hard. I mean this is all his fault. If he hadn't done what he did, I wouldn't be here right now. *wham* *wham*.
No, I'd probably be down there, on the mat, kicking his sorry ass for taking advantage of me. *wham* *wham* *WHAM*.
I mean, where did he go off, restraining himself from SEX?!? What the hell was he on, pulling himself away from ME? You know, I betcha this is just one of his ploys. So he can come out to be the better person or whatever… Damn him!! *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM*
If he'd just screwed me, I could just blame everything on him. *Wham* I wouldn't be here, destroying my knuckles, racking my brain for some reason why HE could hold himself back and I couldn't. *wham* *wham* *WHAM*
And what was that whole deal with him 'caring' about me?!? How could he? Why would he? He couldn't have meant it, could he?
But Max knows very well that Alec had been sincere when he told her that. She knows that that was why Alec had pulled back. The realization irritates her even more.
*Wham* Ok, so Alec cares about me. Big deal, right? I mean he had been tagging along like a lost little puppy ever since Manticore went down. He needs me. I was the first person he knew in the outside world…
He never had trouble making friends though.
Friend… Is that what I am to him?
*Wham* Ok, yeah, I consider him a friend. He was there a couple of times when I needed him; you know, like when I wanted to steal money for that temporary cure or when Joshua lost Annie or when I had to push Logan away…
Yeah, and what have you done for him, Max?
It annoys her that her conscience does not seem to be taking her side. *Wham* I've done plenty of things for him. I gave up the cure to save his life *wham* I saved him from that Berrisford dude *wham* I bailed his ass out of jail *wham* I've done a LOT for him!! *WHAM* *WHAM*
Yeah, but did you do any of those because you actually cared?
Max pauses in her punching rampage. I cared… enough. I care if he's alive or dead. I didn't used to. That's enough, isn't it? Oh whatever… *wham* If Alec cares about me, then that's his business. I don't have to reciprocate or beat myself up because of it. *wham* *wham* *wham*
It's not like he LOVES me. I mean, even if he did, it'd be like in a sibling kind of way, wouldn't it? He is Ben's twin and Ben did love me like a sister… He just felt weird 'cause he was doing this with his twin's sister. Max ignores that nagging sound in another part of her brain that says that Alec never knew Ben and wouldn't care less if the girl he was bagging was Ben's sister or not.
*Wham* Yeah, Alec just cares about me like Krit or Zack does. Well, ok, maybe not Zack. If he did, he would've probably killed Logan a long time ago…
Oh God, Logan… I can't believe I ran off from him the way I did. But it's all for the best. Alec's right (crap!), Logan and I can never be together. He'll get killed. It's for the best. Logan'll find someone else and forget about me…
Yeah, someone like blondie, who he actually sent the other night to keep me down!! As if I couldn't take her down if I really wanted to…
*WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM!*
"Hey, Maxie, haven't anyone ever told you to pick on somebody your own size?"
Max whips around, ready to beat the crap out of the intruder.
Syl.
"I mean, that poor punching bag is about an inch from death and it's not even hitting back. What about taking on someone with a bit more expertise, huh?"
Max somewhat relaxes from her fighting stance, "Who, you?"
"Why not? 'Haven't fought you for eleven years, baby sis. I'm kinda curious how far you've developed…" Syl removes her jumper to reveal a grey tank top. Then she adds with a smile, "And besides, I get bored kicking Krit's ass all the time." She pulls her hair up in a ponytail.
"I don't think you wanna do that, Syl. The street's kinda made me tough…" Max grins at her. Despite her teasing words though, Max has put up her fighting stance again. She actually misses sparring with her siblings and she's also curious on how much Syl has improved.
Syl finishes putting on her fighting gloves and walks toward Max on the sparring mat, "Well, Maxie, as they'd say on the street…" she cocks her head to one side and plasters on a smirk for Max, "…'bring it on, bitch.'"
"Oh, you did not just call me a…" but she never gets to finish as Syl delivers a clean blow to her left cheek.
Oh, she's gonna pay for that. Max quickly retaliates by delivering several punches, which Syl skilfully blocks. Huh, I guess kicking Krit's ass does her well.
Syl aims her leg at Max's torso, but Max anticipates it by stepping back. She swings her leg out at Syl, but the other girl manages to capture her leg and throws her back. The impact causes Max to crash to the ground.
Max quickly scrambles to her feet and the two X5s start to circle each other around the mat.
"What's on your mind, Maxie?"
"What do you mean, Syl?"
"Last time I saw you, you were pretty good, baby sis. But you're definitely off your game tonight. 'Wanna tell me what's bothering you?"
"No, I'd rather fight." And with that, Max lunges at Syl. She manages to crash her legs to the side of Syl's torso before the other girl delivers an elbow to her face. Max's head snaps back for a second before she returns full force with a series of blows.
In the middle of this series of punches, Syl speaks up, "Oh come on, Maxie. It's me, your sister. Spill…"
"I don't want to talk about it." *punches*
*blocks* "It's the heat, isn't it? You feel bad 'cause… you didn't get it on with Alec?"
"What? Hell, no!! I'm relieved!" *left hook*
*right jab* "Then what is it?" *punch* *punch* "Oh, it's that guy, isn't it? What was his name? Logan?"
Max only answers with a series of light blows.
Syl steps back from her attack. "It is, isn't it? You feel bad 'cause you think you've betrayed your boyfriend."
"Ex." *punch*
"What?" *swings leg*
"Ex-boyfriend… But we weren't like that." *ducks*
"Fine. You feel guilty to your ex-whatever 'cause you ALMOST got it on with Alec? What's the big deal, Maxie? You didn't even 'bang' him."
Max takes a step back and drops her stance for a moment, "'Bang' him? Have you been hanging around Alec?" She shakes her head, dismissing her own question, "It's not really about the guilt. Apart from the whole toxic chemical at TC, Logan and I have the virus. I mean, it's hard enough to give up someone just 'cause they'd die when they're around you, but to be kept reminded of that fact…" She starts to attack Syl again, managing to deliver a series of kicks on her legs.
Syl retaliates with a combination of jabs and kicks. "What do you mean? Didn't you get him across to Canada?"
Max steps back and shakes her head. "He didn't want to go. He wanted to help," she pauses, "I saw him when I was out there."
"What happened?" Syl seeks out to strike Max again after her baby sis almost nabs her in the head with a roundhouse kick. Their sparring session is basically on auto-pilot; their movements precise and graceful.
"I couldn't even look at him… He's still full of hope for us." *swipes leg*
"You love him, Max?" *jumps*
"It's not worth it. He's wasting his life on me. He needs to move on…" *elbows*
"Have you?" *blocks*
"It doesn't matter. I'm pretty much screwed." *punch*
"What about Alec?"
Max nearly gets hit in the head by Syl's foot, "What ABOUT Alec?"
"Well, what do you feel about him? He seems to care about you." Syl kicks out at Max.
Max steps back, trying to catch her breath. "Alec doesn't see me that way."
"Oh, I don't know Maxie. When he went and told us what happened, he was pretty concerned about you."
"He's just feeling guilty." *kicks*
"Why? He didn't do anything wrong." Syl captures her leg and punches her in the face.
"He didn't stop it sooner." Max tries to swipe her hands at Syl.
Syl tangles her hands with Max's. "Oh, Maxie, he couldn't control it as much as you couldn't. In fact, it's pretty amazing that he pulled back at all. He said he did it 'cause he cares…"
From her very close position, Syl can see Max's face contorts in confusion, "He told you that?!?"
"Pretty much… But he kinda mixes you up for some kind of sibling. Don't worry, I told him that he's not our brother and that he can 'bag' you if he wants." Syl grins at her and tries to disentangle herself from Max.
But Max won't let her. She frowns, "What?!? That's sick! He thinks I'm his sister!"
When Max won't still let her go, Syl decides to headbutt her. Max staggers backward, holding her head for a couple of seconds before returning to her fighting stance.
Syl makes the first move, "Well, his exact words were 'a very bitchy sister of my twin'. Look, I don't know what kind of twisted relationship you guys have, but it's definitely not 'sick' for you guys to have sex. He's not Ben…"
Max interrupts her, while ducking one of Syl's punches. "I know he's…"
"…And even if he was, it's not like we're all 'real' brothers and sisters. It's not exactly incest for us to have sex…" *punch*
Max doesn't get a chance to interrupt because Syl just goes on. The younger X5 instead concentrates on her moves; knowing Syl, a leg swipe is coming soon. Max prepares herself to jump.
"…Besides, it won't hurt having an X5 heat buddy…" *punch*
Max gets sidetrack from her concentration when she realises the implication of Syl's statement, "What do you mean, an 'X5 heat buddy'?" *swipes*
"Well, to put it bluntly, it's an X5 you can screw whenever you're in heat. 'Beats having to scour the street for a mate…" *blocks*
"Do you have one?" She doesn't. I mean, how could she? *elbows* Max tries to focus in her fighting. Any moment now… Syl's famous leg-swipe…
"Yeah." *kicks*
*ducks* "Really? Who?" Nah, she's bluffing. Ok, prepare to jump; it's her next move…
Syl pauses before she answers, her face expressionless, "Krit."
And Max – losing her concentration and shock etching on her face – goes down like a pile of bricks when Syl decides to choose that moment to swipe Max's legs from underneath her.
A/N: Hehehe, I'm mean, aren't I, leaving at with a cliffhanger?? Don't worry, I already know what to write next so encourage me to post it by reviewing!! Anyway, just wanna say thanks to my reviewers who like Syl & Krit (are you glad that I've included more of them here?) and Josh's paintings! About this chapter, OC is, by far, the hardest character to write; her lingo's complicated! Oh, and I really can't write fighting scenes – probably why many of the terms sound so made up. Oh well, as long as you get that they're fighting and talking.