PART TWELVE : " Rendezvous "
Ames debated with himself as he rode behind Max on her Ninja. He'd fought for over a year to get rid of the Manticore creations, but that mission had brought him nothing but problems, only one of which was the threat towards his son.
He needed to decide what course of action he was going to take, if any; he was experiencing one doubt after another and THAT certainly wasn't like him. Where there is doubt, there is failure. The Conclave taught him that, but they also created the doubt. Did that mean the Conclave was failing him?
Max made a sharp turn onto Stewart Street, nearly spilling White off the back of the bike, and headed west. The Space Needle was well within sight now.
White grimaced as she rode up onto the sidewalk and up to the entrance where he had been parked just a couple of days before. They got off and she walked the bike into the ground floor entrance, ignoring the headache and pain in her chest.
White looked up at the building, then back at Max. "What are you waiting for?" she asked, as she chained her motorcycle to the side rail inside the enclosed area that used to be called The Pavilion.
"How do you plan on getting up?" She looked at him as if he were an idiot.
"The usual way. Take the elevator." She slid a lockpick in the elevator keyslot and after a couple of seconds the floor lights lit up and the doors slid open. White just stared at her. "I know someone who replaced the burned out generator a few years ago." Just so happens that someone was me. She thought. Would have been a pain climbing up and down like the first year I moved here, let alone getting Logan up there.
After White entered the elevator, she pushed the CLOSE button. The doors shut but the elevator did not move. She turned to White. "This is where I give you my 'last warning' speech. If you've set me up, have any of your goons waiting or are just generally inclined to cause me any kind of trouble right now, I'll throw you off this heap and watch you spatter on the pavement below. If you don't believe me, just think of all my transgenic friends you've murdered over the last two years. Believe me when I say that I have. You get me, asshole?"
He grunted something that sounded like some sort of confirmation. Max didn't pursue it, just pressed one of the buttons. The 60-year-old elevator system groaned into activity and began ascending to the Saucer. "Which level did you say?"
Ames looked out the elevator window. In spite of himself, he was observing the splendorous view the height was affording. "The top one. Observation Deck. The lower deck used to be some kind of rotating platform restaurant. Or did your friend fix the generator for that too?"
"Don't get smart. I'm resisting the urge to make you climb the sides as it is," she shot back.
They both remained silent for the remainder of the trip. She had decided on the way over after White finished explaining his story and his encounters with Legion that if he had some kind of mystical mental abilities, he'd probably sense them arriving anyway. She didn't like White's attitude about all this. He seemed to know more about the Needle than he should, chances were that he probably had it bugged or monitored since she went up on it last.
She stopped the elevator on the lower deck. "Stay," she said as she cautiously made her way out onto the floor. She checked all the rooms and the former kitchen area, then the stairwells. She half expected White to be gone when she got back to the elevator, but he was still there.
"Lower deck seems to be clear." she commented, giving the visible area one more look-over.
"Why do you always suspect everything I say?" he drawled, amused.
"Because everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie." She added, "Why should I believe anything you say? If you didn't have a couple of holes in your chest and a portable IV in your jacket, I'd probably have made a stop at Terminal City and let Joshua finish the job he started on you back at Jam Pony."
"Make no bones about it, White; I trust you no farther than I could comfortably throw that vehicle you were driving. But on the off chance that what you're saying about your son is true, I'm willing to test that theory. If it doesn't pan out, I'll be dropping that car of yours on your head. Literally."
White rolled his eyes, but refrained from commenting. She was helping him try to save his son, after all.
The elevator stopped and the doors opened. She seldom came here in the daylight; the dusk gave enough light that the old wallpaper was visible. Bright colors designed to encourage people to pass from place to place more expediently had dulled to little more than pastels over the years.
They walked out onto the floor. In Seattle's visually rare diminishing sunset, it looked almost cheery compared to the nighttime feeling of eerie abandonment.
Once again, Max told White to stay put, and made her way around the Space Needle; checking rooms and walking the outer rim. Arriving back at the elevator, she wasn't looking happy.
"So where's this friend of yours?" she asked.
"Where would you like me to be?" a voice from behind her replied.
Quickly turning her head as she shifted to a more defensive position, Max saw a man who appeared in his late 40's, dressed in slacks and, to her slight amusement; a 1962 Worlds Fair sweatshirt. "I have so looked forward to meeting you, Miss Guevara. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm called Legion."
"Legion? You don't have a regular name?" Max asked as she casually walked a perimeter around him, out of arms reach.
"Really, I'm known by many names; but that one will suffice," the man smiled.
White's patience ended abruptly. "Where's my son?"
Legion, still observing Max, replied. "He's safe."
"You said you would release him. I want my son." he snapped.
Legion now looked in Ames direction. "Mr. White, you are beginning to try my patience. Please refrain from speaking again unless spoken to or I will be forced to remove you from the premises."
Deciding that this moment might not be the right time for confrontation, Ames let his anger simmer.
Max stopped circling the newcomer. "I have to ask the same question. Where's Ray? If you don't have him, I'm outta here."
"I don't believe that will be the case, Miss Guevara. If you don't follow my directions, Ray will die. I'm afraid great misery and death will befall your little assemblage in Terminal City as well, let alone your newfound relatives, should you fail." He smiled.
She took a threatening step towards him. "If you think you're going to get me to help you by threatening me, you are definitely taking too many prescriptions at one time."
"I think not." Legion chuckled. "For I also know who and where your mother is, and she is not dead as the dear Mrs. Bradford led you to believe."
Max stopped.
"Yes, I know you're looking for her." he continued. "And if you ever want to see her, I suggest you cooperate. It's fairly simple after all; I want you to finish the job you started. I want you to destroy Manticore."