Hormones
By: lfbrox
Rating: R
Timeframe: A couple of month after Freak Nation. Logan can of course walk (still)
AN:. Am I loosing my audience or are you guys just as lazy as a reviewer as I am? I hope it's the latter, but if not, I should at least try to wrap this story up and give the few readers I still have a worthy ending. So let's see where this chapter goes (I never know myself when I sit down and write where all of this is heading) and if I can draw some kind of conclusion now or if I need a few more chapters.
Oh, and to clarify some things. The Logan can still walk comment at the beginning only means, that he did not lose his legs again, as happened in VS3. He's as bouncy as he is in the final episode, not needing the exo to walk either. And no. He will keep his legs throughout this story. So on with it:
Chapter 11: Crash, boom, bang
Warehouse outside of Seattle:
"What do you mean 'She's gone'?" Renfro asked incredulous. She had seen the whole scene on the screen in front of her, but she could not quite believe what just happened. She saw Grand stand in the middle of the 'battlefield'. His very confused tac-team surrounding him. No casualties in this fight. The transgenic freaks won in hand-to-hand combat. And now they were gone. No Clemente and no undercover soldiers were able to leave the plane. This mission was a 100% failure – for Renfro and her team.
"They took the plane and left" Grand answered defeated. But there was nothing he could say to explain his failure. Nothing to defend him and his team.
"Find them" Renfro rasped into the walky-talky. "Find the goddamn plane and get her." She ordered. Then she dropped the intercom on the table in front of her and turned to the screens.
"Do we have visuals?" She barked at Victor.
Victor turned to adjust the frequency of the little cameras they had hidden in the plane trying to get a visual. After a few seconds the screen flickered and they saw the inside of the plane.
Mole, Syl and Alec were just tying up the soldiers that still lay unconscious on the floor of the plane. The transgenics took one after the other and tied them tightly to one of the seats in the back where they had been sitting before.
The camera that was installed in the instrument panel of the cockpit showed a very terrified pilot flipping switches and a knocked out co-pilot slumbering in the seat next to him. Max and Logan stood behind him, watching the pilot trying to control the plane without the co-pilots help. Once it seemed that the pilot had somewhat regained control of the plane he leaned back in his seat and let out a shaky breath. He didn't dare to speak but he felt Max and Logan's eyes on him.
"Got everything under control?" Logan asked the pilot who just nodded and kept his eyes fixed on the instruments in front of him.
Max eyes left the pilots face and wandered over the instrument panel. Then she leaned forward invading the pilot's personal space. He jumped slightly as he felt Max breath on his neck. She turned her head slightly towards him and with a quick but gentle "Excuse me", her fist shot forward and bore into the control board where the camera was situated. Some sparks shot out of the panel and the screen in the warehouse went dark.
"Damn it," Victor hissed and tried to adjust the frequency, but the camera was dead.
From the camera inside the back of the plane they could see the cockpit door open. Max stepped out and closed the door behind her, leaving Logan alone with the pilot. She quickly scanned the cabin trying to locate the other cameras that undoubtedly were located all around the rest of the plane.
"I think we need some privacy here," Max said and started to inspect the cabin closer. The first camera was quickly found in the front part of the plane where Clemente and the soldiers had been sitting and it quickly suffered the same fate as the one in the cockpit. Mole, Alec and Syl, who finished tying up the soldiers, took the cue and quickly spread out inside the plane to disable the cameras in the back and the bathroom and wherever else they found one.
Once she approached the back of the plane, where the soldiers were tied up, she discovered another camera, hidden on the lock of the overhead compartment. She stepped closer, staring directly into the lens. She just opened her mouth to say something, when one of the soldiers began to stir in his seat. She turned away from the camera and looked at the soldier who slowly gained his consciousness back.
"You know what," she said as she came closer to him. His eyes grew wider as he became fully aware that he was unable to move, as were all of the members of his team, and the prime target of their mission approached him slowly with a little grin on her face. "Let's talk later." He heard her say before everything went black again and he gladly slipped back into unconsciousness.
Inside the warehouse, the murmurs and curses turned into an icy silence, as one after the other screen went black. Only one camera was still functional and all eyes were fixed on that one screen, where Max after having knocked out the soldier turned her attention back to the camera in the overhead compartment.
"You guys never give up, do you?" Max asked staring straight back into the lens where sure as hell the Manticore audience watched. "I don't know what the fuck you want, but let's get one thing straight here. Once I find out, and sure as hell I will find out, we're gonna come and kick your lousy asses. Until then, I think its best you guys sit together and plan your next steps really carefully. As you may have noticed, it takes a little more than that little tac-team of yours to get us. I suggest you just leave it be and get off our backs. But if you're asking for trouble – bring it on." With that she punched her fist into the compartment lock, and the last screen in the warehouse went dead.
"I'm gonna get you 452. And if it's the last thing I do. I get you," Renfro's raspy voice whispered, then she turned her chair around and left the room, leaving Victor and the rest of the team staring after her. Victor switched off the last monitor and then straightened up to look at the team. Everybody was looking at him expectantly. The mission failed and Renfro left without any follow-up orders. They didn't know what to do. They were obedient soldiers, ready to give their life for a mission. But to think on their own was not part of their training. They stood and looked at Victor, waiting for orders.
"Let's find that plane" Victor said and turned to leave the room. After a split second, the soldiers went to the computers and tracking instruments, glad to have clear orders and a new mission to focus on. Victor stepped outside the warehouse and inhaled the cold, fresh air and leaned heavily against the massive iron wall. He knew all along that something was wrong. They were in deep shit. And Renfro's obsession with capturing 452 wouldn't make it easier for them.
*********************
Inside the plane:
"Great. Just great. Now what do we do?" Alec asked plopping down in a seat in front of the plane opening a can beer he found in the kitchen in the back of the plane.
"I don't know. We're heading east towards Queensborough. But I don't know how far we get. Looks like we're loosing gas. Must've been hit." Logan said stepping out of the cockpit and checking the cabin for the first time since the fight began and he had rushed inside the cockpit.
"We should make sure we're off the radar and go down somewhere safe to get more gas," Syl mused.
"We've cut all the connections and turned off all the devices that can be detected and tracked. Plus we fly too low to be seen on any regular radar screen. But we can not be sure if Manticore hasn't slipped some tracking device on the plane. I'm pretty sure they did, so we should get down and switch planes or stay on the ground and move out further." Max said after exiting the cockpit herself and leaning against the side of the seat Logan sat in.
"I don't think we can land the plane on any airport without being detected. And it's too dark to land elsewhere. The plane is just gonna crash on the ground. How much gas do we have left?" Mole asked lighting a cigar.
"Not enough." Logan said and ran a hand through his hair, spiking it up even more. Max just grinned at him from the side of the seat. Was there anything sexier in this world than Logan looking desperate and with messed up hair. She quickly covered her little slip and tried to control her raging hormones by getting up and pacing around the cabin.
"Okay. What choices do we have? Suppose we don't have enough gas to make it till sunset…" Max thought out loud while pacing back and forth.
"That's a given" Logan said, dismissing even the slightest possibility that they would make it that long.
"Fine. So we need to get the plane down. How are the odds that we have Manticore waiting for us if we land at Queensborough airport?" Max asked already knowing the answer.
"Okay, okay. Bad idea." Max said and threw her hands up in the air after getting incredulous stares from everybody.
"Can you land the plane elsewhere?" Max raised her voice slightly and turned towards the open cockpit door waiting for the pilot to answer.
"Its pitch dark out there. My instruments can only assist me so far that I can level the plane out during the landing. But we need a flat surface to land on, and it has to be long enough. And even then there is no chance in telling if we gonna make it without a crash." The pilot answered and checked the instruments. More than one was blinking red in high alert, that something was not okay. They must've been hit more than once while departing from Vancouver. And he had no idea what else wasn't functioning right, as Max's hit into the control panel disabled some other controls as well.
"Logan, can you pull up some maps on your computer. Maybe we find a location." Max asked turning towards Logan.
"We could try. But you heard him Max. It's still risky. We have no idea how badly damaged the plane is." Logan said and got up to get his computer.
"I know. But that's the only thing we can do." Max replied and looked over Logan's shoulder where he pulled up some maps of the area and tried to zoom them in.
***************
Warehouse outside of Seattle:
"Anything?" Victor asked once he came back from outside and stepped back into the headquarters, where everybody typed along vigorously on computers or tried to find the frequency of the tracking device on the plane with some other equipment.
"The tracking device is still on the plane, sir. But it must've been damaged slightly. We can't seem to find the frequency. But it's only a matter of time." The young soldier answered Victor and then turned his attention back to unscramble the frequency of the tracking device.
"Where could they be by now?" Victor asked another soldier who calculated how far they could've come.
"We have a 200 mile radius sir, supposing the plane was not damaged and they can go with maximum speed, sir." The soldier replied and showed Victor the map, where a circle was blinking, calculating where the plane could be now for every possible direction.
"They don't have enough gas to be heading west. They could be in North Vancouver by now or Port Moody. Or further east in Suncrest, Burnaby or Queensborough. Or maybe they are heading back south, back to the US, sir." The soldier explained the various possibilities to Victor.
"Unscramble the frequency and send a team towards all those locations. We're loosing too much time if we wait till we know the exact location of the plane. Move the teams out now." Victor ordered, not quite sure if he approached the situation right or even if they had enough manpower to take the transgenics on if he split all of the soldiers up in teams. But it was the only thing he could think of, if he didn't want the freaks to get too far ahead of them.
*********************
Inside the plane:
"Okay. What about there?" Max said and leaned over Logan's shoulder to point her finger at a location that seemed flat and wide enough – and most importantly, close enough. She lingered a little there, taking in his scent. He still smelled like sex from their earlier romp in the back of the plane. She moved her head closer, drawn to the heat radiating from him and his neck, so close to her mouth. Her lips parted slightly and her tongue darted out of her mouth to that spot on his neck where she knew he was very sensitive, when she was pushed aside slightly by Syl who took over Max earlier position next to Logan's neck staring at the screen and the location Max pointed out.
Max exhale noisily and shook her head slightly as if to shake away the images she had of Logan and her in the back of the plane. Supposing she had enough of her control back, she allowed her gaze back down to Logan and Syl and the map on the laptop screen.
"I don't know. Looks good enough. I doubt we find anything better in the next few minutes." Logan said and got up to show the pilot the location they had picked.
"Max. Get it together alright." Syl said as she stood close to Max and whispered in her ear, so Mole and Alec couldn't hear it.
"What?" Max hissed back defensively.
"Max," Syl glared at her. "I saw what you just did."
"What did I do?" Max asked innocently.
"Cut it out, sis. If I wouldn't have pushed you aside, you would have attacked that poor guy. Heat or not. You already scratched that itch today. You should have a little more control than that girl." Syl glared at her.
"Alright, alright. Consider it a moment of weakness. Won't happen again." Max replied to Syl, and then looked up after hearing the soldiers stir awake in the back of the plane. "Guess I just have to find something else to do." Max grinned and made her way towards the soldiers with Alec and Mole following her.
2 of the soldiers were stirring and slowly made their way back to the living. The other 2 soldiers were already fully awake and took in their surroundings.
"Welcome on board of Freak Airlines," Max said cheerfully as she stood in front of the soldiers. "We hope you enjoy your flight here. We're gonna serve a light meal soon and some cool beverages. But first we should have a little talk or we gonna feed you the special menu of the day," Max said and raised her right fist, "And then we gonna send you headfirst to an unfortunately not so soft landing."
That said, she stepped closer to the two soldiers that were already fully awake and removed the duck tape that covered their mouths, leaving the other 2 soldiers alone in their half-awake, half-asleep phase. Then she stepped back to look at them.
"Talk!" she ordered.
But no soldier made a move to respond. They stared straight ahead, not moving and inch.
"Always the nice little obedient soldiers, huh?" Alec said and stepped closer to them. "Let's cut this thing short here, shall we? We know you're Manticore. We know you came here to get us. That said; let's get to the real important question here. Who is your commanding officer, and where did you want to take us?" Alec asked and grabbed the soldiers chin roughly to make him look him straight in the eyes.
As the soldier made no attempts to answer, Mole pushed Alec aside, untied the soldier's hands from the seat and dragged him to his feet. The soldier looked terrified standing just mere inches away from Mole. "Guess that one asks for the special menu." Mole growled and planted his fist in the soldiers face. Hard enough for the soldier to feel the pain, as his jaw broke, but 'gentle' enough, so he would not loose consciousness.
"Now let's try this again. Who send you and what were you going to do with us?" Mole asked and held the soldier, whose own feet couldn't carry him anymore, upright. The soldier remained silent. He was trained for that. Willing to take any torture, even a painful death without compromising the mission.
Clearly annoyed Mole dropped the soldier who landed with a loud thump on the floor. "Let's try this one." He said and grabbed the next soldier who watched how his fellow soldier had been treated and was determined to endure his own torture.
As it looked like that soldier won't say a word either, Max walked back to Syl who stood in the door of the cockpit, listening to Logan and the pilot. As she saw Max walk towards her, she stepped back.
"Any luck?" Syl asked nodding her head towards Mole and Alec, who were already on to soldier number 3.
"Nope. Not a word. I don't think we get anything out of them. Is Clemente up yet?" Max asked Syl and stepped closer to the seat where Clemente lay, still unconscious after hitting his head on the wall of the plane as it swerved when they departed.
"No. But I think it's time we wake him up. Not much time till we land, maybe he has a little bit more information and I bet he his a little more willing to share that information with us than those guys." Syl stated matter of factly as she saw Mole throw the last Manticore soldier on the pile of bodies in front of him and shook his head towards the girls, signaling them, that the soldiers were back out cold and did not say a single word.
"Let's give it a shot. We have nothing to lose." Max said, grabbed a bottle of water from the table and poured it over Clemente's sleeping form. He bolted up right within a second, spitting water and looking around, trying to make out where he was and what the hell had happened.
"Welcome back," Max said, waiting for Clemente to wake up fully.
"What? Where? What the hell happened?" Clemente stammered. He stood up and ran a hand threw his wet hair only to sit back down once he felt a little dizzy and a sharp pain shot through his skull.
"We were hoping you could tell us," Max said in a calm voice and sat down in the seat in front of him, to make him more comfortable and less scared.
"What happened, where are we?" Clemete asked again. After Max gave him the short version of what had happened and a brief description what was to follow Clemente seemed relieved and a little bit more relaxed – given the givens.
"Now. What can you tell us? Why is Manticore after us? What's their plan? And how do you fit in there?" Max asked Clemente.
"I'm not sure myself. All I know is that they threatened to kill me and my family, if I don't deliver." Clemente answered.
"Deliver what?" Logan asked from behind Max and Syl.
"Deliver them 452." Clemente said and could see the looks the TC-group exchanged.
"What do they want from me?" Max asked.
"I don't know. They just wanted you. The plan was to fake negotiations and then capture you and have the rest of the plane crash on the way back to Seattle. Everybody was supposed to think we all died in the crash. Keeping all of Terminal City from starting a war. And I could start living a normal life somewhere really far from here. But I think they changed the plan. They never trusted me." Clemente explained, but even he realized, that what he knew wouldn't be a lot of help for them.
"With whom were you in contact from Manticore?" Logan asked, trying miserably to hide the fear in his voice. His fear, that something is going to happen to his Max.
"I only talked to this guy called Victor. But I don't think he ranks really high at Manticore. He mentioned a couple of times his boss. Director Renfro." Clemente said trying to remember everything that he knew.
At the mentioning of Renfro's name Max felt her body tense up. She felt like someone hit her in the stomach. Renfro. That was kind of a new one. Or an old one that is. She thought Renfro was dead. Had seen it with her own eyes. She took a bullet for her. She used her last breath to tell Max that she was 'the one'. Max never found out what she meant by that, but as long as the bitch was dead, and Manticore burnt to the ground she never really cared that much. Of course when all those spooky runes appeared on her body she thought about it a lot more. But Renfro was dead, and Manticore gone. Only White and the Familiars posed a threat to them. But she never pictured that she might be the connection between those 2. Manticore and the Familiars.
Syl never had to deal with Renfro in person and had only heard about her. But the look on Logan's, Alec's and especially Max's face was enough to convince her, that they had a bigger problem than only Manticore after them.
"What else?" Max asked, her voice a shaky whisper. Logan heard the fear in her voice and stepped closer, placing a soothing hand on her shoulder for which Max was more than grateful for.
"She wanted me to make you trust me, and then lead you away from Terminal City, where she could capture you. I'm sorry Max. That's all I know." Clemente answered.
"Where did they want to bring us?" Alec asked, using the term 'us' instead of 'Max'.
"As I told you. I was just supposed to bring you here. Then me and my family…..oh my god. My family. They are out there. God…..I'm sure they already got them." Clemente cried out, having just realized, that while he was luckily still alive, his family might not be.
"I'm sorry. We make sure they are alright and save once we've landed this plane on the ground. I think we are just about ready. I go and check with the pilot. You better buckle up." Logan said to Clemente and Mole. "Syl, Alec, Max. The pilot could use your night vision to land the plane. Why don't you move the co-pilot out here in the cabin and get ready." Logan suggested to Syl and Alec, who got the hint and moved to the cockpit to change seats.
Logan waited in the hallway for Max. She got up with unsteady legs and walked towards the cockpit. Logan grabbed her arm lightly as she passed him and stopped her.
"Max. Are you alright? I mean. How are you doing?" Logan asked, not sure that anything he could say make her feel better right now.
"I don't know" Max said and looked up at Logan, who looked down into her eyes. She could see the worry, fear and love in his eyes and she instinctively leaned forward in Logan's waiting arms. He hugged her tightly, not sure what she needed him to say. So he just held her there. Max moved even closer, hugged him even tighter, as if she could just hide in Logan's arms and make all the pain and fear go away. Why was it always so hard? Why couldn't they leave her alone and be happy for once.
Logan was just brushing a little kiss on top of her head, while soothingly rubbing her back gently, when Syl interrupted them. "I'm sorry. But I think we are ready now. Logan, you can sit in the cockpit, but you better buckle up now. This is going to be one hell of a landing." Syl said, hating to interrupt her sister and Logan in a moment like that.
Reluctantly Max let go of Logan, gave him one gentle kiss on his lips and turned to sit in the co-pilot seat, while Logan buckled up on a seat close to the door. Syl and Alec looked for something to hold on, in case it got a little too rough, then leaned forward and zoomed their eyes in on the dark night.
***********************
The warehouse outside of Seattle:
"We got them, sir." One of the soldiers informed Victor, who was busy coordinating the different teams he had on various intercoms. He turned around and with two quick steps stood behind the soldier.
"Where are they?" Victor yelled already preparing his next move in his head to send all teams that were already on the move, to that particular location.
"They are 25 miles west of the outer perimeters of Queensborough." The soldier informed Victor, who turned around immediately and gave the location to all the teams that had moved north and south, so they could re-locate to the given coordinates.
"Are they still in the air?" Victor asked the soldier after having re-directed the troops.
"Yes, looks like it sir. But they get lower. Looks like they are going down soon, sir." The soldier answered.
Victor went back to his intercom and changed the frequency. "Trooper1, Trooper2. Here base. Target about to land, 25 miles west of Queensborough. How fast can you be there? Over." Victor asked the 2 helicopter pilots that were on their way.
"10, 15 minutes sir." The helicopter pilots answered, pushing the helicopter to go faster.
"Make that 10 minutes." Victor barked back. He could not afford to lose them again.
"Yes sir," the pilots answered and pushed safety aside and accelerated the helicopter beyond maximum.
****************
Inside the plane:
"I don't see a fucking thing," the pilot yelled as they approached their landing destination. He wasn't afraid of the transgenics anymore and decided if he had to die he might as well speak his mind. And it sure looked like they would all die soon. He accelerated the plane and pushed the button for the landing gear. He lowered the plane, nose first towards the ground. But all he could see was the black darkness outside the window and the alerting red lights on the control panel that indicated only one thing – trouble.
"Relax." Max told him and focused on her night vision. She could see the large area in front of her. A flat, wide spread meadow that went on just as flat as far as her vision could zoom. "A little bit further to the right. We're almost there." Max informed the pilot.
"Okay. Let's do this. As soon as we're close enough to the ground, we will pull the lever up as far and hard as we can." The pilot instructed and wiped some sweat from his forehead.
"Just say the word," Max answered and hoped the controls would provide them with the information about the right moment when to pull the lever up.
The pilot checked the controls to wait for the right moment. Syl, Alec and Max stared out of the window. They were moving with incredible speed and they could see the ground rapidly approaching. Max fought against the urge to pull back the lever just then. But she waited for the signal, ignoring the image in her head that had the plane crashing nose first to the ground.
"Now?" Max asked, unsure how much lower they had to get.
"Not now. A little further down," the pilot answered. After another minute, which seemed like a lifetime to Max and the others the pilot yelled "NOW", and she and Syl pulled the lever up towards their bodies while Alec helped the pilot pull his lever up.
The plane touched the ground hard. Even though it was a flat meadow, there were still little uneven bumps that broke the landing gear right off the plane. The plane jumped again, landing flat on the ground and rushed along the meadow. No landing gear meant no breaks and no control whatsoever over the plane. All they could do was sit there, hold on tight to whatever they could grab and wait till the plane came to a final stop. The left and the right wing alternated in hitting the floor, which slowed the plane down but also caused the plane to shake rock and swerve uncontrollably.
After what seemed like an eternity the plane finally bumped into a large tree, which slowed the plane down so it finally came to a stop a few yards further. They heard the plane puff, squeak and then a large thump as the right wing broke and the plane rolled onto the side, where the right wing once supported the plane to stay somewhat upright.
"Is everybody okay?" Max yelled as she unbuckled the seatbelt and helped the pilot do the same.
"Yeah, but I think I broke my leg," Logan answered and winced in pain as he tried to get up.
"Here let me help you." Alec said and offered Logan his arm. "We need to get out of here. If this thing blows up we are not only dead, but it is a pretty nifty signal for Manticore." Alec said and led Logan carefully out of the cockpit and towards the hole that was ripped in the side of the plane, where half of the tree stuck. Max helped the pilot out while Syl went inside to get the co-pilot and Mole led Clemente out.
Once outside they all looked at one another. There was nothing even remotely close. They were standing in the middle of the meadow next to a crashed plane. But they had to get out of there.
"Guess I can't consult my computer anymore about where to go now," Logan said bitterly as he watched the crashed plane.
"Leave it to Logan to worry about his computer gear while sitting in goddamn no man's land with a broken leg and a deadly military force on his ass." Alec joked and went over to drag Logan back to his feet.
"Very funny Alec. Hey, what are you doing?" Logan asked confused after Alec had lifted him up and then threw him over his shoulder.
"We need to get a move on. What do you wanne do? Crawl?" Alec said while walking over to Max, Syl and Mole. "Which way?"
"I don't know. How about further east towards Queensborough? We might score a car and get out of here before the sun sets." Max suggested.
"Fine. Let's go." Alec said and started walking east with a complaining Logan swung over his left shoulder.
"You can stay here if you want to. But one word to anybody where we're heading and I'm gonna come back for you." Max warned the pilot and his unconscious co-pilot. The pilot just nodded with relief and sank to the floor and passed out.
Max turned and gave the wreck one last look and hurried after the others.
*********************
Warehouse outside of Seattle:
After getting her composure back Renfro returned to the command center. Victor informed her quickly and efficiently about the status of the operation when the first helicopter reported in.
"Located the plane, sir. Crashed 10 miles west of Queensborough." Trooper 1 informed him.
"Any movement?" Victor asked while feeling Renfro's eyes on him.
"We can't tell from here sir." The Trooper 1 replied.
"Send one trooper down to secure the wreck and the other one go find them." Renfro instructed Victor, who barked the orders he had just received in his intercom.
While the second helicopter landed near the plane wreck, and 5 heavily armed soldiers exited heavily armed to inspect the wreck, Trooper 1 moved closer to the city.
"I see movement." Came the excited voice of Trooper 1. "5, no 6 targets. One is injured. Trooper 1 waits for instructions."
Victor turned to Renfro who seemed deep in thought. But they needed a decision quickly, because if the helicopter could detect the freaks, they sure as hell could see the helicopter too.
"Director Renfro, ma'm." Victor asked her carefully but insistently.
"Attack." Renfro ordered, her face pale.
Victor turned away and grabbed the intercom. "Attack. I repeat. Attack." He ordered.
"Yes sir." Was the only answer they got before the intercom went dead and the soldiers went to execute the order.
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AN: First of all. Thanks for reading this time. And if you liked it, hit that little button on the bottom left just to let me know you read it. Secondly, this is not the end. I seem to write them out of one mess and then I write them into another one a second later – thus stretching the story to unbearable length. Sorry idlehands452, but Max will kiss Logan better in the next Chapter. I promise.
Oh, and the thought of Logan losing his legs didn't leave my mind while writing this. But he got only shot in the leg. Not like he's losing mobility again. Just thought it be a nice touch if Max can pamper him a little later on.