Author's Note: Another small note on canon discrepancies: Max mentioned that Faith and she have the same eyes. Well, Karen Murray (thanks for the Review, Karen) reminded me that Lydecker said (in the episode 'And Jesus Brought a Casserole', I believe) that Max has his late wife's eyes. Seeing as that episode is still in the future at this point in the story (and will never happen, since this is an AU) and Lydecker was deep into a manic depression at that point I take the liberty of disregarding his comment. I played with the thought of him and Faith having some sort of shared past for a moment, but I think that would be taking adherence to detail a little bit too far.
Also, Jane Silver, I think you're referring to Max and her siblings blowing up Manticore at the end of Season 1 and torching it to the ground at the beginning of Season 2. I don' think there was any blowing up involved in their initial escape back when they were kids. Correct me if I'm wrong.
As for those who've complained about Max getting her ass kicked, look for Max to give something back in this chapter. Remember, though, she is facing superior numbers, all of them as strong as herself if not stronger, and with more experience. Not having her get her ass kicked would have been unrealistic, in my opinion.
And now, on with the show:
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Part 5: Mommy Dearest
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This, Max mused, had to be one particularly fucked-up nightmare. What were the odds that, after years of thinking the closest thing she had to a mother was a test tube, she would not only find the real thing, but that the real thing would also be more than capable of kicking her ass but good? Was this what normal children had to put up with? Probably not. God forbid anything in her life should ever be normal.
How many times had Zack scolded her for her recklessness? He'd have a field day now, that much was for sure. She should have listened to her inner soldier and got out while the getting was good. Instead she suddenly found herself beset upon by no less than four women with strength and speed equal to if not greater than her own, while more of the same were waiting in the wings.
Max was not completely stupid, current appearance to the contrary. All through the rather one-sided fight she'd tried to spot some way out of this madhouse. Unfortunately the residents seemed to know what they were doing, covering all the exits while her mo..., the woman who..., fuck it! She'd just called the woman 'mom' to her face, she might as well think it! Her mother had kicked her ass!
Telling her the truth had seemed like a good idea at the time.
It was a strategy her inner soldier somewhat agreed with. If all other options failed, confusing your enemy was a viable option. And if one could confuse them with the truth and find out how much of it she might have known in the process? All the better.
The look on her face (Mother? Faith? What to call her? Stick with Faith for the moment!) told Max one thing: Faith had no idea what she was talking about. It read something along the lines of 'what's this bullshit?'
By now Max was almost convinced that these people had nothing to do with Manticore. For one thing none of them had barcodes on the backs of their necks, she had checked during the fight. And while that alone might not have been absolute proof, their fighting styles showed no trace of the militaristic precision Lydecker had drilled into all of them.
The women were all using a style that seemed cobbled together from just about any fighting technique Max had ever heard of and the guy ... she couldn't make sense of the guy at all. His movements ... they seemed unnatural somehow. As if he wasn't so much as moving as being pulled along by invisible strings, almost like a cheap special effect in some old TV program. She'd never seen anyone move like that.
But what else could they be except transgenics? Well, she might find out if they didn't kill her within the next few minutes.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Faith snarled at her, clearly not amused.
From the corner of her eyes Max saw that several more people had been drawn to the lobby by the commotion. The brunette woman she had seen upstairs, as well as two men, one white and wearing glasses, the other a black man clutching ... a sword? Why would he bring a sword? Well, he did look like he knew how to use it.
Increasing pressure on her windpipe brought Max' attention back to the matter at hand.
"Just what I said," she forced out between clenched teeth, her air supply dwindling. "I was hoping for a hug or something, not an ass-kicking for staying out twenty years past my curfew."
The weight pressing down on her throat fell away, but before she could draw more than a cursory breath she was wrenched back to her feet and, a moment later, found herself slammed face-first into the nearest wall, her right arm twisted painfully behind her back.
"Maybe you think this is funny," Faith growled into her ear. "Now let's try this once again. Who the fuck are you?"
Max had quite enough of being pushed around by these people, even if one of them was ... might be ... whatever. So she snapped back her head, a satisfying crunch telling her that she'd hit and broken Faith's nose. The hold on her lessened and she pushed back with all her remaining strength, gaining her freedom.
For all the good it did her. Turning around, she found herself standing with her back to the wall and surrounded by quite a few angry, super-powered people. The angriest of whom stood right in front of her, blood streaming from her broken nose, her eyes blazing with rage. Apparently Faith didn't think this was amusing anymore. Tough shit!
"My name is Max," she quickly said, her inner soldier telling her that she should avoid another brawl she couldn't win. Sometimes she did listen to reason. "I'm from Seattle and, hard as it may be to believe, I'm your daughter, Faith."
Okay, somehow she never quite hit the right tone for these diplomatic exchanges. She really had to do something about that attitude of hers. It didn't pay to be cocky when you'd just gotten your ass thoroughly kicked.
"Right," Faith sneered, wiping some of the blood off her face. "I always wondered what might have happened to that little bundle I gave birth to back in the day. Oh no, wait! I didn't. Because I was never even pregnant. Think up a better story, kid, while you still have the time!"
Time seemed to be running out, judging by the look on her face.
"Twenty years ago you spent some time in the hospital, remember?" Max said, unable to keep the slight grin off her face when Faith's eyes widened in surprise. "I guess no one told you that, while you were sawing wood in coma-land, someone came by and took a few eggs out of your basket."
Faith made a step forward, looking as if she was about to rip Max' head off, but suddenly the young guy in black was there, putting a hand on her shoulder. Max still couldn't quite figure out what was so strange about him, but something was definitely off. That didn't stop him from looking quite tasty, though.
"Maybe she should hear her out," he said in a calm voice.
"Listen to more bullshit?" Faith snapped at him. "No, thank you! I've had quite enough of this. Daughter my ass!"
"I suggest you elaborate a bit more," the guy with the glasses said, brushing a hand through his gray-streaked hair. "I fear there are some short tempers present in this room."
British, Max noted. Definitely British.
"Look," she began. "I don't know about you people, but I guess we all know that none of us here exactly falls into the fully human category."
"Some of us do," the brunette woman said in a low voice.
"Twenty years ago," she went on, ignoring the comment, "a couple of guys wanted to play mad scientist and create the perfect soldier. At first they called themselves the Initiative or something, then ..."
"The Initiative?" the glasses guy asked.
"Those idiots that built that Frankenstein-wannabe Adam?" Faith looked at him, apparently knowing something as well.
Glasses guy must have seen the puzzled look on Max' face and apparently decided to have a bit of mercy on her.
"Some associates of ours encountered the Initiative about two decades ago. From what I heard it wasn't exactly pleasant."
"Hard to imagine," Max said sarcastically. "I don't know much about this Initiative thing, but some side project of theirs became Manticore, a little breeding ground for enhanced humans. They spliced some genes, added in some enhancements, and nine months later out popped some pretty abnormal toddlers."
Faith still looked pissed, but the others had a somewhat thoughtful look on their faces.
"Given what Buffy told me about these scientists," the guy in black said, "I don't have much trouble believing that they might have dabbled in something like that."
Max briefly wondered who Buffy was, but decided that she wasn't in the right position to ask too many questions here.
"So what?" Faith asked. "You were grown in a test tube? What has that got to do with me?"
"Didn't you listen earlier?" Max bitched back. "While you were sleeping the sleep of the brain-damaged the scientists discovered that you were the perfect donor for their little science project. They took DNA and ova from you to add to their soup."
"Fascinating," the glasses guy said. Max really needed to learn some names around here, referring to them as 'guy in black' and 'glasses guy' was getting real old real quick.
"This is bullshit," Faith said, turning away in a huff. "You're telling me some scientists stole some skin scrapings from me and now I have a daughter? Yeah, right! Try another one, kid! I'm not buying that one."
"Maybe you'd like to know that I'm not an only child?" Max asked amusedly.
Faith glowered at her.
"I don't know about the rest," the brunette woman quickly intervened, "but at least one aspect of her story should be relatively easy to check."
"Fred?" Well, at least she had one name now. What kind of name was 'Fred' for a woman? Well, 'Max' wasn't exactly brimming with femininity, either.
"I have all the equipment necessary for a DNA test right here at the hotel. It shouldn't take more than an hour to find out whether or not she really is Faith's daughter."
Max shrugged. "Fine by me." Some part of her was deeply disturbed that, after sharing so many details of her life with these strangers, she was now also volunteering to give them a sample of her DNA. It went against everything her ten years on the run had taught her. She was in too deep now to pull back, though, so she might as well go all the way.
"Faith?" the guy in black asked her.
After some additional glowering Faith finally nodded. "Okay, let's get this nonsense over with. Maybe then you people'll finally let me beat the truth out of her."
#
It didn't take an hour. Fifty-three minutes later Fred came back from wherever she might have set up a laboratory in this huge building and announced the result of the test. Max wasn't surprised. Everyone else was.
"I don't believe this," Faith growled under her breath, but Max had a feeling the rage brimming in her voice was no longer directed at her.
"Faith ..." The black guy, whose name Max had learned was Robin, tried to calm her down. She would have none of it, though.
"Those fucking bastards," Faith yelled, kicking a nearby lounge chair hard enough to split it in two. "Get their jollies cutting up a coma patient, do they?"
She turned on Max and the young transgenic almost took a step back looking at the fury in those familiar eyes.
"Where are they? Where are these bastards holed up? I'll tear off their balls for this!"
"I know where they are," Max said, trying her best to sound calming. It wasn't something she had a lot of practice doing. Normally people tried to calm her, not the other way around. "But you can't simply walk in there, believe me!"
"And why the hell not?" Faith yelled at her.
"Because they have half the goddamned military of the US stationed there, not to mention about a hundred more like me."
This took the wind out of Faith's sails but good.
"A hundred more?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper. "And all of them are..."
Max nodded. Closing her eyes, Faith took a deep, shuddering breath and seemed to deflate. "A hundred more," she repeated. "A hundred more."
Robin walked up to her and this time she didn't resist him when he drew her into a hug. Max had seen the wedding bands they both wore and couldn't help but imagine what might happen if she called Robin 'daddy'. She didn't, though. Who said she was too reckless?
Glasses guy, who she now knew was called Wesley, stepped past the somber couple and approached Max.
"I would think the best thing would be for all of us to sit down and talk some more. There are a lot more things we need to know about you and this Manticore project. And I imagine there are quite a few things you would like to know about us, as well."
"No kidding."
He motioned toward his office.
TO BE CONTINUED
