Back with another update. Been a busy couple weeks what with an unexpected weekend road trip to Leicester to take some teenagers on a street theater shebang. I swear those guys are made of iron - I pulled like five muscles and ended up dead but it was lots of fun. Anyway, glad I could get this up for you all. Review it, m'kay? M'kay (South Park is NOT the shizz, by the way :P).
-- Tyler
"Alright, just bring'im down, nice and easy."
The sound of Alec directing Luke and Dix in regards to their unconscious quarry's destination brought Max's attention back to the task at hand.
She raised an eyebrow at the nomalies as they carried Kid's limp, motionless frame carefully down the staircase. The boy had been blindfolded and handcuffed but other then a nasty bruise forming on his right temple, he appeared to be unharmed.
"Good job."
"Oh really? I'll have to take your word for it, cuz uh, " Luke fumbled with Kid's ankles as he tripped on a step, nearly tumbling downwards and only managing to avoid doing so as Alec grabbed his arm, "you know it didn't really feel 'good' knockin' an eleven year-old out with the broad side of my fist."
"Yeah well don't go heapin' ashes on your head, man – it's nothin' he hasn't felt before." Dix, on the other hand, seemed less then fazed as he bundled Kid's arm tighter and nodded at Max, "Right, where you want Lil' Guy?"
"In the chair." She motioned behind her as Luke and Dix moved to comply.
"And don't call him 'Lil' Guy'. No terms of endearment." Alec groused, and Max rolled her eyes.
"Right, cuz Kid is 'Lil Guy's' polar opposite."
He flashed her an acerbic smirk, "Well aren't you just a gem in the crown of society tonight?"
She raised her eyebrows with a patent Max Guevara smile of irony but made no further comeback.
"So let me get this straight." Mia's hands were planted on the curve of her hips as she slowly circled Kid's frame in its position slumped over the chair, "I'm looking at the single-handed perpetrator of a nasty, forty-odd transgenic slug-out. That right?"
"Ask him yourself." Alec sniffed as he unzipped his jacket and slid it down his shoulders, "That's what you're here for."
"That and being Alec's verbal punch-bag, apparently." Tanker's tone was full of disapproval as he assisted Max in cuffing Kid's ankles and wrists firmly to the chair.
"Least I can keep my fists in line." Alec responded in a quiet mutter which, of course, reached Tank's ears loud and clear regardless and caused the X5 to glance up sharply from his work.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothin', forget it." Alec raked his fingers through his hair as his jaw locked and then relaxed. Tank, however, was by no means ready to let the jab slide as he straightened up and spread his hands wide.
"What, so now you're better then the lowly scum who got suckered by a Psy-Ops, is that what you're saying?"
"Dunno, is that what you're feeling?" Alec's tone was a patronizing as his words, "Cuz if you wanna talk about your 'feelings', all you gotta do is cross the room and unburden your soul to Mia…"
"Hey!" Max scowled at the pair, "Can we please just get through this night without killing each other here?"
Alec's lips pursed and he tossed his jacket onto the counter beside him. Tanker huffed out a sigh and raised an eyebrow at Kid's slumped frame.
"I still don't see how you intend to weasel anything out of him. He's X-series so if he's Psy-Ops as well it means he's clearly trained for outlasting just about any kind of torture."
"We're not planning on torturing him." Max had though that was a given – but the furrowing of Tank's brow affirmed her suspicions otherwise.
You can take the soldier out of Manticore…
"Not suggesting we bring out the pliers here, Max, but what other option do you see presenting itself?" Tank was genuinely broaching the question as opposed to being confrontational…a first, Max noted.
"Jesus, he's a kid, Tanker!" Alec was at least pitching his tent in Max's camp, it seemed.
"So what do you suggest we do? Spank him?" Tank was less then impressed with his amigo's change in heart over the last Manticore-free year.
"Somehow I don't see that presenting itself as a constructive option in this scenario, do you?" Max was quick to return the good deed as she launched a counter-attack in Alec's defense before throwing a sharp look over her shoulder at Mia's next statement.
"Guy's…he's waking up." The Psy-Ops woman scrunched up her nose as Kid began to stir, "Uh…Max?"
"What is it?" Max closed the space between them, eyes glued to Kid as he let out a muffled grunt in his throat and began to pull frantically against his bonds.
"He's strong…" Mia sounded worried – about what, Max wasn't exactly sure – "He's really, really strong."
"What do you mean?" Max cast a cursory glance at Alec, who made it to the chair just in time to prevent it from tipping over as Kid entered full-blown panic mode.
"Hey! Easy, alright, easy!" Alec insisted, both hands gripping the chair's rim firmly as he bent down slightly to speak to Kid, "No one's gonna hurt you."
"Alec?" Kid's breathing was sharp and rigid, his nostrils flared and the lower half of his face not obscured by the blindfold pinched in alarm, "What's going on?"
"Drop the act, Kid – nobody's buyin' what you're selling." Tank's ruthless pragmatism was clearly unappreciated, and the joint glares that Max, Alec and Mia sent his way assured him of that fact.
"What are you talking about?" Kid's struggles were growing along with the fright in his voice, his breath spurting out in visible puffs through the cold air, "Look will somebody please just tell me what's going on?"
"Actually we were hoping you were gonna answer that one for us." Max nodded at Alec, "Take off the blindfold."
His eyebrows arched and he moved closer to lower his voice, "Max, I don't think that's such a good idea."
"If we wanna get him to talk to us, we have to get him to trust us first." She whispered in reply, and Alec's face soured in disapproval – and disagreement.
"If we wanna 'get him to talk' without hurting him," The X5 male reasoned quietly, "we need him to understand who's in control."
"Yeah, I get it – scare tactics and all that. I know what Manticore taught us, Alec. I just…" Max shrugged with a somewhat dejected expression, "don't want to be like them. There has to be a better way to go about this kind of stuff with kids."
"Yeah well," The wryness in Alec's voice didn't disagree with her statement – it merely despaired of it, "you can bet Manticore never sat us down for that class."
Max's face set in resignation as Alec's did likewise, and the latter moved to carefully untie the blindfold from around Kid's eyes.
"Don't try anything smart." Alec cautioned as he did so, "Cuz it would only be stupid."
"I…I don't understand!" Kid's eyes were wide and welling with unshed tears, two orbs of confusion and fear focused directly on Alec as he glanced up at the man, "Why am I handcuffed?"
"In case you try to run away?" Alec's suggestion was as sarcastic as the tone it rode upon, "Though of course, you do seem pretty anxious to hang around. Let's start with that, shall we?"
"Max," Mia sidled up beside her comrade, anxiety written across her petite features, "I'm not so sure this is gonna be easy. His mental defenses are stronger then anything I've ever encountered."
"We'll work as a team and break them down." Max responded confidently, eyes locked on the young boy's figure as she stepped forward, "Don't worry – Alec 'n I have done this before."
"Brain hardly counts." Mia's quiet reminder caused Max to seethe and turn to scowl at her, "Uh I mean…carry on."
"Look, I d…don't know anything about anything, alright? Just please let me go." Kid's voice and lip was quivering now and it was apparent that a flood of crying was about to ensue.
"Okay, let's take a look at your barcode, shall we?" Alec (to Max's relief, because the Puss-In-Boots routine was really starting to strum heart strings) was clearly unmoved by the potential waterworks as he moved Kid's head down and brushed back a tuft of unruly hair to examine the boy's neck.
"Says here you're X-series…X6-627, that right?"
"626." Kid responded in a shaking voice, and Alec locked eyes with Max, who tightened her lips determinedly.
"Ever spent time in Psy-Ops?" She watched carefully, intently, as Kid's eyes darted from Tank to Mole and then grew wider with alarm as they caught sight of the latter.
"Once, for evaluation. B...but it was standard." His eyebrows pinched tightly at the pinnacle of his forehead, when suddenly he froze as Mia came to stand alongside Max, a curious frown tugging at her lips.
"You sure about that, sweetie?"
The tilt of her head coincided with Kid's as his eyes mellowed out somewhat.
"I'm sure." He swallowed, and Mia's frown deepened.
"Well gosh, you know, I'm not so sure." Her eyebrows rose as a kind smile spread across her face, "Considering the fact that I recognize you, 626."
"I…I...I don't know you." Kid stammered tentatively, seeming alarmed by the look Alec and Max were exchanging as Mia continued.
"Sure you do." The curvaceous brunette was now riding the full current of her bubbly nature, "We even worked on that mission in Columbus together, remember?" Mia rested her hands on her thighs and bent down to smile at eye-level with Kid, "Well, you were pretty small."
"So he's Psy-Ops then?" Max folded her arms over her chest as Mia glanced over her shoulder to cast her a confirmatory nod.
"Definitely. I remember him."
"Kinda like the way I remembered you." Alec mused briefly only to roll his eyes at Max's caustic warning glance, "Okay then. Well, I'm in favor of skipping through the amnesia speculation and scrawling Lie Number One on the chalkboard."
"I second that." Tank raised his hand, and Mole nodded in agreement.
"Please don't kill me!" Kid's sudden outburst of tears was not entirely unexpected – though the intensity of the sobbing was certainly convincing.
"No one's killing anybody!" Max assured him with a heavy sigh as she crouched down in front of the crying boy, "Hey, hey!" She sharpened her tone somewhat as she shook his shoulders, "Snap out of it, alright? We just want the truth."
"But I'm telling you the truth!" He bawled even harder and fat tears spilled down his cheeks in unwavering measure, "I don't know what you want!"
"What we want is to stop whoever's making you work for them. If you can tell us who they are, we can make sure they never bother you again." Max hoped the explanation was as simple as it seemed. She'd formulated it on the assumption that Kid wanted out of whatever messed-up scheme he'd become victim to.
The alternative theory would certainly complicate the issue.
"I'm not working for anybody." Kid sniffed and choked back a hiccough. Max glanced up at Alec, who raised an eyebrow briefly before his lips pressed together and he moved to stand beside her crouching frame.
"Alright, Hotshot, here's the deal." Alec raised his eyebrows and averted his gaze as Kid's now red and bleary eyes locked with his own, "Nobody's buyin' into that crap, so I suggest you come up with something a little more believable if you wanna barter out information."
"You're on somebody's payroll, Champ." Mia spoke the words with something akin to sadness as she tossed Kid a sympathetic expression, "Now you can tell them, or I can pry through your mind and then I can tell them. However you wanna play this is up to you."
"But I'm telling you the truth!" Kid had latched onto the phrase like a mantra, it seemed, only this time he fixed round, wet eyes onto Max and chewed at his trembling bottom lip, "You believe me, don't you?"
Max instantly regretted the eye contact. The lines separating certainty from speculation seemed to blur and morph as she was magnetically sucked into the deep orbs of Kid's shining, fragile eyes. She felt her will being bent and then broken.
"Of course I do." Max whispered in response, meaning the words on every level of her consciousness. A hand gripped her arm and tugged her to her feet, and the next thing Max knew, her left cheek was stinging with a small blush of pain.
"Sorry." Mia winced and actually sidestepped to stand behind Alec (who was too flabbergasted by the fact that the Psy-Ops offspring had up and slapped Max Guevara to grace Mia with his token scowl), "It's the only thing that seems to work on victims of the brainwave bug."
"Works on victims of the heat-wave too, in my experience." Tank muttered to Mole, who crooked a grin at the X5.
"As if you've ever tried to snap'em out of it."
Max blinked several times and then furrowed her brow, nodding tightly at Mia, "Thanks."
"Right, well I think I'm safely within my rights to do this again." Alec shrugged out of Mia's subconscious vicegrip and made short work of blindfolding Kid once more, much to the young boy's protests.
"No!" Kid jerked his head away but Alec managed to hold it fast and finish the job with at least a measure of the calm control that their charge was now no longer manifesting.
"Settle down." Alec's order was as full of warning as it was of coaxing, "Getting worked up isn't gonna help anything, Kid."
"Just get inside his head." Max murmured to Mia as she rubbed the back of her neck, "Find out who he's working for."
"It's not that simple, Max." Mia informed her with a grimace at a particularly loud wail coming from the boy in the chair, "I don't read minds, you know."
"I beg to differ." Max replied with a stony raise of her eyebrow, and Mia sighed with a shake of her head.
"I never 'read your minds', Max. You and Logan told me everything I wanted to know."
"Fine, so don't read his mind – make him tell you. I don't care," Max brushed past Mia as she headed for the staircase, "just get it done."
"Max, where you going?" Luke broached the question with alarm as he watched the X5 female hike the staircase with a small amount of difficulty.
"To clear my head." She called tartly over her shoulder, "I don't like being whammied – leaves a bad aftertaste."
Luke's reply (if he had even made one) fell on unreceptive ears as Max stalked quickly outside into the night air. Tilting back her head and closing her eyes, Max savored the crisp, frozen wind that whipped through her long, chestnut hair and at the fraying edges of her jeans.
A small shiver coursed through her body, and Max sighed as she opened her eyes and took in the flickering, scattered lights of Terminal City. Most of them were fires, she knew. TC's heating system was royally screwed – although Alec had a team working on some kind of complete overhaul. Max didn't really know the details…something about pilfering gas from nearby generators.
The pain throbbing in her cranium suddenly became sharp and overwhelming, and Max lurched against the rough, splintered wood of the warehouse and cupped her forehead in her palm.
"Shit." She whispered, but was fortunately diverted from her headache by the blaring of her mobile phone. Someone (likely Mole, because that man was Max's self-appointed aggravator) had changed the ring tone to the Kang-Kang.
"Hello?"
"Max, it's me." Logan sounded distracted, she noted.
"What's up?"
"Got some more scoop on that possible siege. Turns out they're planning on quarantining a one-mile radius surrounding Terminal City in two day's time under the pretence of a contamination scare." Logan's tone was dry and somewhat irked at the under-the-table maneuver, "The ministry of health's gonna be sniffing around the area tomorrow for the sake of the media."
"Oh – great. We can pick'em off from the rooftops." Max stated in sarcastic exuberance with a flail of her hand, "It's no big deal."
"Just thought you should know." Logan replied tersely, and Max wondered fleetingly if migraines were verbally contagious.
"Sorry, it's just…things are really messed up around here right now."
"I'll bet." He offered somewhat more benignly, "Alec mentioned something about a possible plant inside TC."
"When'd you talk to Alec?" Max narrowed her eyes skeptically – and suspiciously. Fortunately she managed to prevent either emotion from leaking into her voice. She always got edgy when Cyber-Hero and Smart-Alec engaged in any form of conversation – all it took was one slip-up from her less-then-co-operative alibi and Max's whole scheme was blown…or screwed…screwed and blown, actually.
"Called him a couple of hours ago with some info he needed on piping."
"Piping?" Max scrunched her nose up and then rolled her eyes, "You know what, never mind. With Alec, it's usually best to leave well enough alone."
"You're telling me." Logan's response was dutiful, Max knew – a subconscious reminder that the topic of her and Alec's relationship was never up for discussion if either she or Logan could avoid it.
"Anyway, as soon as the health inspectors clear the zone, I'll do an Eyes Only broadcast, try to shed some light before they section off the area and turn it into a war zone." The sound of Logan's doorbell chimed faintly in the background, "I gotta go."
"Expecting someone?" Max couldn't help the concern in her voice. Ever since White's gang had totaled Logan's apartment, she'd been riding the overprotective buzz.
"It's just Asha dropping off some stuff. I'm gonna be doing a streamer for the S1-W later on in the week." Logan explained, and Max felt her chest rise and fall with both relief and a faint sense of sinking.
"Say hi to her for me."
"Will do. Take care of yourself, Max."
She smiled, and it faded as fast as it had appeared before she snapped her phone shut and tucked it in her pocket.
A grating buzz suddenly shot from the pinnacle of her brain and filled her ears with a hollow, curdled ringing. Max sucked in a breath and placed both hands on her knees as a wave of nausea rushed through her.
Oh come on! Max fought back the urge to vomit, I don't get migraines. I do not get migraines.
"Apparently you do."
Max hadn't been aware that she'd said the words aloud – but evidently Alec (at least she gathered it was his voice that pierced the ringing in her head) had heard them somehow.
"Come on, Maxie. Easy does it." He was talking again – each word was like a mallet slamming against Max's throbbing head. Hands gripped her arms, strong hands that seemed to act as conduits of solidarity as they eased Max to her feet.
"Ugh, I'm fine." Max attempted to brush Alec away, but she couldn't get a proper bearing on his location. The sudden appearance of a very glaring light which sent arcs of pain through her head detracted from her efforts.
"You're not." Alec stated flatly, "I'm taking you home." He slung Max's arm over his shoulder and hooked his own around firmly her waist, "C'mon."
A dark glower of grudging temporarily overshadowed the pinched grimace on Max's face as she allowed Alec to half-support, half-carry (because her boots were now only skimming the ground) her around the corner to where his motorbike was parked.
"I dunno what's wrong with me." Max admitted in a slurred voice which she barely recognized as her own – only the palpable irritation in the tone assured her of its identity, "God we don't have time for this shit."
"The shit we don't have time for is still bawling its eyes out in the basement." Alec's response was almost a reproof. Max squinted against the flames crackling in a tall dumpster – the source of the 'blinding light'. God she was pathetic.
"On you get." Alec's grip had switched and he was now helping Max to straddle the bike while steadying her in the process.
"What? Forget it – I'm not driving a Triumph." Max forced the token grumble regarding Alec's taste in vehicles that she hoped would assure him of her well-being.
It didn't have the desired effect.
"You're not gonna be 'driving' it. I'm driving it, now shut up and hold on." Alec didn't sound as though he cared whether Max thought she was alright or not, and it miffed her terribly.
As if that man knows what's good for anybody. He can't even take care of himself. Max allowed herself the petty gripe as she grudgingly wrapped her arms around Alec's waist and clasped her hands together at his torso.
Huh. Alec wasn't wearing his jacket. Must've forgotten it in the ardent rush to humiliate me with his overbearing heroics. Max had never noticed how perfectly sculpted Alec's waist was – just broad enough to compliment the solid rows of muscle that comprised his abdomen. It was a tricky line to walk with a metabolism as high as the one she knew Alec sported.
Maybe he drank protein shakes when Max's gaze was averted – but she highly doubted it.
The trip up the steps to Max's apartment was highly eventful – although by the time they reached her floor, it had blurred into the three most cringe-worthy minutes of Max's life. The pain in her head had spread to include her ears and eyes, and she felt as though her entire skull would explode at any welcome moment.
"'Kay, here we are." Alec fumbled with the keys Max had hastily handed him, twisting them in the lock and shoving the front door open as he supported Max with his other arm, "Alright, you know what, you definitely have damp. Jesus." He turned up his nose at the smell of must as they entered the apartment, nudging the door shut with his foot and easing Max onto the rusty, iron-framed atrocity she was calling her bed.
Max normally would've thrown back a vicious response to the 'damp' remark, but the increasing virulence of her migraine prevented her from doing anything more then curling into a ball that was tight enough to make her knees and forehead meet.
Max was acutely aware of Alec bustling around in her kitchen area, and she hazarded opening her eyes just a sliver to monitor his actions – and to ensure he wasn't attempting to steal her Columbian coffee beans.
"What're you doing?" Max's voice had digressed from its usual clarinet texture into a croaky whisper that she found terribly pathetic.
"Getting something for your head." Alec responded as he ran the faucet and glared dangerously at the sputtering, tainted water that soaked the facecloth he'd evidently scored from Max's bathroom, "That's it. Soon as you're better, I'm finding you a decent apartment."
"Nothing wrong with my apartment." Max muttered, rolling at an agonizingly slow pace onto her back as Alec's weight creaked the mattress springs.
"Nothing right with it, more like." He retorted in a softer voice, and the next thing Max knew, a cool washcloth was placed in neat folds over her blazing forehead.
"That stays there, okay?"
"Whatever." Max could feel a glimmer of reprieve from the migraine's furnace as the wet cloth did its job. Her muscles, rigid and tense from the pain in her skull, began to relax.
Alec left again and returned shortly with some Advil and a glass of water. Max had no idea where he'd come up with painkillers – they weren't exactly the standard household essential with their sort…namely due to the fact that by the time a transgenic required pain relief, it was usually on the level of morphine in double doses.
"Right – you, take these." Alec placed the box of Advil on the desk beside Max's bed after coercing her to swallow a couple, "And drink as much water as you can chug without bursting." The sound of a jug and glass being placed on the desktop seemed louder then usual.
"No getting up for any thing or any reason. I'll send someone over to play nurse till I can check on you tomorrow morning."
"Well yes sir." Max groused indolently, inhaling deeply and shifting her hips to bring her knees into her chest once more. Her eyes were closed but she distinctly heard Alec snort at the term.
"Just cuz you're sick doesn't mean I won't kick your ass if you call me the again."
Sir, 494…apparently Alec had a fair slew of names he wasn't remotely comfortable with. Max would be sure to add that juicy detail to her leverage box for future use – 'future' being some time when her head didn't feel like the Earth's freaking core.
"Not that I won't kick your ass for actually managing to wear yourself down to the point that your genetically-enhanced immune system couldn't fend off a migraine." Alec announced in a cheerful tone which really didn't make Max feel any less irked at what he'd said. Golden Boy was so overstepping his boundaries – and taking advantage of the fact that Max was too sick to smack him upside the head for it.
"Shut up, Alec." It was all Max could get out, and she was aware her words were slurring together as the chronic exhaustion she'd been battling for a month now finally poked holes in her defenses. She felt the familiar warmth of her old, well-worn blanket envelop her (how Alec had managed to maneuver it out from under her, she had no freaking clue), and the last thing that reached her ears was the faint murmur of Alec's voice speaking into his phone before Max slipped into a fitful sleep.