Island Wolf: Kids, if any of you are in high school, respect the amount of work your teacher puts in to planning a lesson - holy sweet Christ I've been up like three nights in a row trying to finish two Unit plans X_X on the bright side my work breaks have been dedicated to writing this, hey-oh consistent updates.
Guys I really have to take a moment to say thank you for the response you guys have given me to this story so far, the reviews have been so nice, the amount of follows has blown my mind and the views - holy crap, you're all just fantastic! Hugs for everybody!
I have to say I've got mixed feelings about this chapter - I must have rewritten it a dozen times and I'm still not content, but I think I just need to bite the bullet and post. I'm sorry that this one probably isn't up to snuff compared to chapter 3, but if you guys can hang in there chapter 5 is looking more promising (hopefully going to work some sweet banter in there). Anyway, enjoy peeps
Oh, also I saw a GIF of Maxie's losing animation from Omega Ruby - made my fucking life, I love that dork so much! Such a freaking cutie!
Disclaimer: Blah blah I own nothing blah blah pokemon and characters belong to Nintendo
May awoke to organized chaos.
The entire building was a hub of activity and it was all she could do to stay out of the way as Magma personnel rushed to and fro, packing up valuable equipment and transporting them to the rear lawn – though May couldn't fathom why; not even all the trucks she'd seen in the facility's garage could carry all of this. Hefting the duffel bag higher up on her shoulder she headed towards Maxie's office and was greeted by an almost bare room. Maxie stood cutting an imposing, but impressive figure in his long overcoat next to Courtney who was wearing some sort of black flight suit and holding a a tablet, presumably containing a checklist of some kind.
"That's it Sir, all essential equipment has been moved to the pick up point, personnel standing by."
"What's the ETA on our transport?"
"Approximately ten minutes."
"Good, dismissed."
Courtney brought her booted heels together with a crack and saluted before she left the room, though not without giving May a sidelong glare as she did so. May turned to face Maxie feeling decidedly bewildered. "What's going on exactly?"
"No time to explain the details, just follow me," Maxie said with an errant wave of his hand. May huffed, but followed him to the elevator without complaint. He selected the ground floor, but rather than go through the lobby they took a small side corridor that led out the back of the building to the massive open grounds that backed the estate.
May shivered as she met a blast of icy air, turning up her collar against the biting wind. Large containers packed with equipment stood wrapped in dark green tarp, surrounded by Magma personnel. Most were as she was, dressed in civilian clothing and holding their bags of possessions, but there were a significant number dressed in militaristic uniforms, black with a splash of fire-red on the collar and toting automatic assault rifles.
"How the hell are you going to transport all of this, you'd need a goddamn fleet of trucks!" May enquired. The red-haired CEOs eyes flashed with amusement, but he remained silent much to her chagrin and she rolled her eyes. They hadn't really spoken since last night and she flushed slightly beneath the collar of her winter coat. That had been a very improper move on her part, showing up in his personal quarters in nothing but her nightwear. Still, he'd been nothing less than a perfect gentleman about it.
She stole a glance at him, standing with his hands in his pockets and his dark gaze focused on the sky. May shook her head and smiled. He was an abrasive, stubborn and disagreeable man, but perhaps he wasn't all bad. In any case he had an exceedingly good taste in liquor and music. She moved to stand next to him and was about to ask him what he was looking for - then she heard it.
It was low at first, a deep steady thrum gradually growing in volume until it was a growling roar. She saw someone point and looked towards the sky. What she saw made her jaw drop. "No fucking way."
Bearing down from the east were seven absolutely massive twin-engine, tandem rotor helicopters. Painted completely black save from the white registration numbers near the tail they hovered huge and imposing against the pale winter sky. Slowly they started to descend and she had to commend the abilities of the pilots – as expansive of the facility's grounds were, they were almost completely taken up by the fleet of helicopters and it was a feat of pure skill to land them so precisely. Once safely on the ground the rear loading ramps were lowered and the massive machines were slowly powered down.
"Where the hell did you get those?" May yelled over the slowing chopper blades.
"I called in a few favours," Maxie replied with a wink as he headed towards one of the helicopters and met one of the pilots. The aircraft operator removed his helmet to reveal a roguish looking man, roughly Maxie's age, with greying blonde hair and intense green eyes that screamed mischief. He laughed when he saw Maxie approached and grasped the other man's hand, pulling him into a quick one-armed embrace. Clearly an old acquaintance – one that owed Maxie big time by the looks of it. With surprising swiftness the helicopters were loaded; two were filled almost completely with cargo, one more was half loaded and the remainder seemed to be designated for personnel, roughly 50 souls to a craft.
May stood awkwardly to the side, not quite sure exactly where she was supposed to go – to be fair she was still a little flabbergasted that Maxie had winked at her. So the red-haired devil had a sense of humour after all. The man in question seemed to notice her discomfort and beckoned her over, along with Courtney much to her dismay.
"Miss Maple you will be riding with myself and Courtney in one of the cargo aircrafts."
"So this is the lassie you were talking about," the blonde-haired man said and then grinned crookedly. "A sweet little thing like you took out this salty bastard eh? Not bad girl, not bad."
"Thank you Miles, I loved being kicked while I'm down."
"I just brought you seven Chinooks, I'd say I've earned a few pot shots," Miles laughed and May found herself instantly liking the man. "Right, well we better get started. Courtney come on, you're going to help me fly this bird."
May tried very hard not to smile, but failed miserably as Maxie led her up the loading ramp and through the maze of crates and boxes they'd loaded into the back. There was an open seat near one of the windows, just behind the cockpit and she sat herself down, jamming her duffel bag beneath it. "So what is the plan exactly?"
"We'll be flying to our new location first, then we'll transport you to Ever Grande once we've unloaded," he said, handing her a headset. "Put that on once we start taking off, you'll be able to keep in touch with us in the cockpit."
"You're going to be in the cockpit? Don't tell me you know how to fly one of these monsters."
"No, not well anyway," Maxie said, shaking his head. "I'll be acting as third co-pilot, more so navigator than anything else. You can reach me with your headset if you need anything."
With that he stepped through the narrow door that led to the cockpit. She heard them strap in and followed suit, cinching belt tightly around her waist. She'd never flown in a helicopter before – on the backs of pokémon sure, but a hulking military aircraft? She swallowed thickly and slid on her headset, listening to the chatter of the pilots as the helicopter hummed to life, the blades slowly picking up speed.
"This is Mightyena – Alpha 1, ready for take off."
"Mightyena – 2, standing by."
"Mightyena – 3, standing by."
"Mightyena – 4, standing by."
"Mightyena – 5, standing by."
"Mightyena – 6, standing by."
"Mightyena – 7, standing by."
May felt the vibrations surging through the aircraft intensify as the loading door was closed and the nose of the helicopter started to lift. With pilot jargon flowing through the headset May decided to focus her attention on the window, watching the land slowly disappear as they gained altitude and turned towards the south. The view was spectacular, she had to admit. She rarely flew in the winter so it was a real treat to see the forests and valleys blanketed in white, glittering in the weak sunlight. Far below she saw groups of pokémon meandering through the trees, either seeking food from the evergreens or buried beneath the snow. A pack of Mightyena gambolled along the banks of a river, chasing the shadows of the helicopters as they passed by.
Lovely as it was, however, the allure eventually wore off as the hours dragged by. It was hard to keep track of their position through the tiny window, especially since she still didn't know where the original base had been located to begin with. She leaned back in her seat, gazing around the helicopter's interior for the hundredth time when her headset exploded with radio chatter.
"Mightyena – 1, unknown aircraft to your eleven o-clock. We've tried hailing them on all channels, but there's been no response."
"Someone get me eyes on them, tell me what we've got!"
"Looks like four, no five birds inbound...what the – they're Kamovs!"
"What are Black Sharks doing here? Is it the military? I thought we had clearance!"
"It's not the military," she heard Maxie snap over the radio. "We need to prepare for evasive action."
"You seriously want to dogfight in a Chinook? Against a Black Shark?"
"Do you want an R-73 missile in your lap?"
"No, but – shit here they come!"
May gripped the edge of her seat, shutting her eyes tightly as they banked hard to the left. The radio was in bedlam, screams, orders, the fierce tattoo of heavy machine gun fire and the screech of air to air missiles. An intense flash of light shone through the window beside her before a deafening boom rattled through the aircraft and they pulled another heart-stopping bank. This isn't happening, this isn't happening – this is just a bad dream, any minute now I'm going to wake up in my bed in Littleroot, I -
There was a massive bang, the smell of smoke and May could hear alarms screaming in the cockpit.
"Fuck, we've lost the forward prop, losing altitude!"
"They're coming around for another pass!"
May could hear the bullets as they pierced the fuselage before there was another thunderous boom and the aircraft shook fiercely before the last engine died altogether. The rotors slowly ground to a halt and for one heart-stopping moment there was silence – and then they started to fall.
"Brace for crash landing!"
May felt her heart leap into her throat as they free fell, spinning in violently towards the ground. She screamed and the world went white.
She could taste blood.
May opened her eyes, blinking hard to clear the black spots away from her vision. For a moment she was completely disoriented, the pressure on her hips was enormous and all of the blood was rushing to her head. She suddenly realized that they helicopter had ended up on its side and she was dangling, suspended by her seat-belt from what had suddenly become the ceiling. She spat out a mouthful of blood and ripped off her headset. In the distance she could hear the thrum of helicopter engines, but whether they belonged to friend or foe she couldn't say. Other than that it was eerily quiet aside from the occasional creak from the aircraft's badly damaged frame.
She reached down and struggled with the seat-belt until her fingers finally found the release. She dropped several feet and landed hard on her knees, smacking the side of her head painfully on an overturned crate. She headed towards the cockpit, crawling through the now sideways door. Miles was completely unresponsive, blood dribbling out of his mouth and his chest crushed against the flight control column. Courtney, bruised and battered but relatively unharmed, was already struggling out of her own harness and Maxie was unconscious, still strapped in his seat. He was sporting a nasty looking wound on his left shoulder where a piece of debris had torn through his clothing and into the flesh beneath.
"You're alive, good – help me get him out," Courtney said gruffly, as she moved to Maxie's side.
"What about Miles?"
"Look at him, his ribs are shattered and he probably has a punctured lung. We need to be able to move fast."
"So we're just going to leave him here?"
"If you want to flag down Cipher for help, be my guest – I'm getting out of here."
May bit her lip and curled her hands into fists, nails biting crescent shaped cuts into her palms. Courtney was right, she knew that but – it still didn't make leaving him behind any easier.
She moved to Maxie's other side and wrapped her arms around his torso, supporting his weight while Courtney worked on freeing him from his harness. His head rested against her shoulder and she could see blood matting the hair near his left temple. "Maxie, you need to wake up. Please, we really need you here!"
His eyes fluttered open, looking around dazedly for a few moments until his gaze sharpened. "Status report?"
"Not sure Sir, we've crash landed – Miles is..."
Maxie looked over at the other man and closed his eyes. After a moment he turned to Courtney and nodded. "I understand. Come on we need to get out of here and assess the situation."
Courtney finally managed to undo the harness and May continued to support his weight as he struggled out of the seat. One by one they crawled through the shattered cockpit window and took stock of their surroundings. They'd crashed in a forest of pines, the aircraft carving out a large scar in the tall stand of trees where it had fallen from the sky. There was no sign of the other helicopters from their party, but they saw the sleek outline of the enemy's aircraft bearing down on them fast.
"Into the trees, quick!" Maxie hissed.
They ducked under the safety of the pines, darting between their shadows as fast as they could. The snow was calf deep in most places, but there were some drifts that had May up to her waist and practically swimming to escape the heaving sea of white. The cold air stung her lungs and her legs were already shaking with fatigue from breaking trail in the virgin snow.
"I – I don't hear anything," Courtney panted as they came to a halt near a half-frozen brook. May turned tightly in place, feeling the hair on the nape of her neck prickle. The pines were tall and black around them, casting them in shadow aside from the slice of pale sunlight that sliced through the canopy along the brook's curving path. The gentle sigh of the wind and the gurgling water were the only sounds she could hear – it was obscenely peaceful, and every survivalist instinct she had was screaming.
"We should keep mo-"
The gunshot broke the stillness like a thunderclap and beside her, Courtney lurched backwards as a plume of crimson erupted out the back of her skull, staining the snow rust red. She fell oh so slowly, her body collapsing into the stream as the red ruin of her face gazed up emptily at the sky.
May desperately wanted to scream, but her vocal chords were frozen, paralysed by the icy claws of fear wrapped firmly around her throat. Through the trees she could see men in uniforms coloured in winter camouflage, rifles raised. May could only stare at them, watching helplessly like a Deerling in the headlights.
"Run!"
The sound of Maxie's barking command snapped her back to reality and she turned, splashing across the brook at a dead sprint. Yells and warning shots echoed between the pines behind them, but May dared not turn around. Maxie was to her left, keeping up despite his injuries, with endurance that astounded her. The ground had begun to slope beneath them and they were abruptly faced with a steep drop off of about seven feet before it levelled out to flatter terrain. Maxie jumped down and May followed, her legs nearly giving out on the landing, but rather than continuing to run he pulled her back and pushed her against the rock face. He brought a finger to his lips in a silencing gesture before flattening his back against the wall next to her. The sounds of the approaching soldiers grew louder and May felt herself trembling.
It was all May could do to keep quiet when the edge of a pair of boots and barrel of a gun peeked over the lip of the cliff edge. Maxie moved with the speed of a striking Seviper, stepping to one side he reached up, grabbed the end of the rifle and heaved. A shot rang out and the ground in front of her exploded, showering her in snow and dirt. The Cipher commando toppled forward, pulled off balance by Maxie's surprise attack. The former crime-lord wrenched the gun out of the stunned soldier's hands and immediately turned it around, firing a single shot into the downed man's head. Blood and brains spattered against the snow.
Shouts rang out in the trees behind them and Maxie swore. May stood, rooted to the spot – all she could do was stare at the corpse with the hole in his head and a red halo spreading in the snow around him. Maxie's grip on her arm caused her to look up. She expected him to yell, but he merely pulled her forward, urging her back into a run. He kept her in front, following close behind and occasionally turning around to fire a few suppressing shots. The roar of the helicopters had returned and looking up May could see the menacing black shapes hovering in the sky above the canopy.
The trees suddenly began to thin and grow further apart, opening into a wide clearing. A Kamov hovered above, black and terrifying, and a line of rifle bearing men, Cipher's emblem sewn brazenly onto their breasts, stood waiting. May felt Maxie's back pressed against hers and she could practically hear the gears turning in his head as he struggled to look for an opening as the Cipher agents closed in on all sides. Out of the corner of her eye May saw one of them pull out what appeared to be a handgun of some kind. He levelled it at her and fired. Rather then the bullet she was expecting, a small liquid filled dart embedded itself in her neck. She yelped and ripped it out, but a few seconds afterwards she felt all of the strength leave her body and her legs gave out beneath her. Maxie must have heard her cry out because he turned and the men flanking him seized their chance. They rushed in, one ramming the butt of his gun into Maxie's stomach, causing him to double over before a second man dealt him a crippling blow to the back of his neck. Maxie fell to the ground, retching and fighting for air.
"No!" May cried, dragging herself towards him. She wrapped her arms around his fallen form as best she could to shield him from another blow. "No, leave us alone! Leave – leave us -"
The world dissolved into darkness and she slumped against him. The last thing she saw before the blackness swallowed her whole was the blood stained Magma pin on the lapel of Maxie's coat.
We've lost...
It hurt...everything hurt...
May struggled to open her eyes against the harsh fluorescent light. Her head felt like it was going to split open and every inch of her body felt like it'd been savagely beaten. It hurt just to breathe, to think. She tried to lift her hand over her eyes to block out the wretched light, but found her arms, torso and legs strapped down to some kind of operating table. Immediately she started to break out into a cold sweat and bit down on her lip to stifle her whimper. The room was spartan at best, white washed walls and linoleum tile. The far wall was set with a large piece of reflective glass that she couldn't see through and the thin outline of a door. She strained against the straps, but the leather held firm no matter how hard she pulled.
"Ah, good to see you awake at last May."
The door swung open and a tall man with striking blue hair loosely tied back in a low-slung ponytail entered the room. He wore an impeccable suit, though it was cut in a style she was sure the world hadn't seen in a century or so, and gazed at her over the rims of his tinted glasses. He gave her a disarming smile and moved to stand beside her, tucking an errant lock of her hair behind her ear. May shuddered; his hands were cold and lingered against her skin for far too long. "I was starting to get a little worried about you May – oh I do hope you don't mind if I call you by your given name, it's just so lovely! Like the first breath of the sun after a long, cold winter."
He slowly started to circle her as he spoke and May was suddenly reminded of a Sharpedo, circling its helpless prey, ready to strike at any given moment. He stopped when he came to the front of the table and rested his hands on either side of her head, leaning over her slightly. "I'm sorry, where are my manners. My name is Ardos and you May, are a very special girl indeed."
"You're the head of Cipher," May hissed, wrinkling her nose in a snarl. "Where am I? Why did you keep me alive?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Ardos replied, smiling again. "A champion class trainer, despite your rather indecent departure from the League, you single-handedly brought down Teams Magma and Aqua and forged a bond with the ancient earth titan Groudon. You, my dear, are truly a gem amidst all the dull faces of the unwashed masses."
"Well how about a little respect for the gem and do away with these restraints?"
"Oh you are witty, I like that!" he said, nodding to confirm her suspicions. "Let's put that keen intellect of yours to the test then; just why do you think I've brought you here?"
"You want me to get you to Groudon."
"You're half right," he laughed, moving to stand by her side. "I want you to take command of him once we turn Groudon into a shadow. With you as his handler Cipher would be nigh unstoppable, even with that troublesome cousin of yours and my traitorous brother trying to interfere."
"You have got to be joking!" May said with a sudden bark of laughter. She looked at Ardos with a sneer that Maxie would have been proud of. "I'll never work for you, you sick son of a bitch! You and the rest of Cipher can go fuck yourselves and go back under the rock your crawled out from!"
Ardos sighed and made a tutting sound and leaned his hip against the table, toying with her hair again. "I had a feeling that would be your response; you hero types are so predictable with your holier than thou attitudes," he paused to remove his glasses and returned his gaze to her, his eyes a sharp, icy blue – wild and hungry like a tundra wolf. He smiled again, bearing his teeth in a savage sort of grin. "Allow me to illuminate you. You are no better than the rest of us, you are fallible, flawed and very much breakable."
He brought his face close to hers. "Your childish notion of heroes and villains does not exist May, the world is simply made up of those with the courage and fortitude to seek and exercise their power, and those who are too weak or stupid to understand. You and I are far more alike than you would ever care to admit, but I'm going to remove your self-imposed blindfold and force you to look me in the eye."
"You're mad! You hurt innocent people, you turn pokémon into heartless fighting machines!"
"Oh don't be so melodramatic," he said, smirking as he drew back slightly. "I'm liberating them my dear. Imagine, not having to worry about emotions, to reach your full potential without the burden of such things, imagine never having your heart broken? An enviable state of being I should say. Ah, I can see that I'm not getting through to you, no matter. I shall let the matter lie tonight and we shall begin the process tomorrow."
He reached into the depths of his coat and produced a syringe filled with a clear liquid. With surprising gentleness he rolled up her sleeve and started to clean the crook of her arm with a cotton swab soaked in a disinfectant. May struggled against the bonds anew but he shushed her and placed his free hand on her shoulder, holding her down securely.
"Process? What process?" she asked, her voice high with panic. "What is that?"
"Hush dear girl it's just a sedative, something to help you sleep," he said, carefully piercing the cleaned skin with the needle and pushing down the plunger. She whimpered as a cold sensation swept up her arm and he removed the needle. "Besides we can't have you plotting any escape routes now can we? I'll explain everything tomorrow, I promise."
May didn't have the strength to respond. Already her eyes were growing heavy and she didn't have the strength to twist away when he started stroking her hair. Her vision blurred and then she slid into darkness once again.
Maxie growled and paced the length of his cell again, as he'd been doing for the past hour since he'd awoken despite the pain it caused him. The tiny area was constructed of some sort of white plastic-based material with the outer wall being made of thick plexiglass set with a door, locked of course. There was a single cot wedged in the corner and a toilet on the opposite wall. Barren but functional. He paused to glance over at May, laying unconscious on the cot as she had been since he'd awoken. His shoulder wound had been crudely stitched up and bandaged, but it still hurt like blazes as did his head and he knew that at least two of his ribs were cracked from the rifle blow. The act of walking was agonizing, but he would take the pain, as much as he could...anything to distract him, anything to stop him from thinking. Every time he paused to catch his breath his mind replayed Courtney lurching backward as the bullet took her between the eyes, Miles crushed in the twisted wreckage of the helicopter, the personnel manifest containing more that one hundred and fifty names...
He shook his head firmly. This was not the time or the place for grieving – that would have to wait. A quick examination of the girl, had shown that she was unharmed aside from a few scrapes from the crash and the bruise rapidly forming in the crook of her right arm, likely from an injection of some kind. Probably a sedative seeing as she was still unconscious; in any case he was grateful for it – he really didn't want to deal with her hysterics.
He resumed his pacing and watched another pair of guards walking past, making a mental note of it. If the pattern held there was a guard rotation approximately three times an hour. It was painfully obvious that Cipher had taken them to one of their facilities, gods knew where, though for what purpose he really couldn't fathom. May was of value to the League and could therefore be ransomed, but he, with his organization obliterated, was practically worthless. He'd heard nothing of the fate of his employees, but if they'd treated their attack anything like they had the Aqua cleansing operation than there was likely no one left alive besides Tabitha.
A soft moan from the corner signalled May's awakening and he stopped his pacing, leaning his back against the glass window. There was a string of slurred curses as she sat up, rubbing at her temples. She looked at him with bloodshot eyes and frowned.
"Are we the only ones who made it?"
"I believe so yes."
"Fuck," May whispered hoarsely. She sat up and drew her knees tight against her chest. "How – how could they do that?"
"You'd be surprised at the brutality and malice that people are capable of. I take it you had the pleasure of meeting our host."
"Yes," she said softly, her face disappearing for a moment when she hid behind her knees. After a moment she lifted her head to look at him. "Do you have any idea where we are?"
"No, I woke up in here – you were still unconscious."
The colour abruptly drained from May's face as her hand strayed towards her hip. "Maxie where are our pokémon?"
"Presumably being held hostage, or the far more likely scenario they're being turned into shadow pokémon as we speak."
An awkward silence filled the room. May had begun to gently rock back and forth on the cot, still hugging her knees tightly. It seemed all she could do to keep herself from dissolving into tears. When she spoke her voice was barely above a whisper. "What are we going to do?"
"We are going to do nothing Miss Maple. We're unarmed, defenceless, and we have no idea where we are. Even if we managed to get out of this cell we don't even know the facility lay out; we wouldn't get more then a few hallways down before they caught us. I'm afraid we have to wait for help to come to us, if it ever comes at all."
"But – how will they every find us?"
"They likely won't be able to Miss Maple."
She glared at him with sudden anger, over the tops of her knees. "You really aren't helping the situation."
"I'm being realistic Miss Maple," he sneered, folding his arms over his chest as he turned to face her. "There is nothing we can do."
"Not with that attitude! There has to be something we can try, we can't just – we can't just lay down and die!"
"Idiot girl!" he spat. "You have to face the truth of things eventually! We are not getting out of here and there's not a goddamn thing we can do about it!"
"Excuse me for not giving up at the first sign of trouble!" she fired back. "You told me to give up years ago and I still managed to beat your sorry ass, yet you constantly berate me, belittle my skills – why can't you stop being an egotistical son of a bitch for five fucking minutes and try to be a decent human being!"
"I owe you nothing Miss Maple! You humiliated me, destroyed my life's work and drove me underground for years. Why should I be a decent human being to you hm?"
"Christ you're sick! After all that's happened – after what we've just been through, you can't put your pettiness behind you even though we're on the same side? You're no better than that psychopath upstairs! I'm surprised you haven't decided to join his fucking ranks already!"
"Ha, is that what you think of me?" he sneered, moving towards her. She backed against the wall, making a noise like an angry cat and he grinned savagely. He slammed a hand against the wall next to her head and slid two fingers beneath her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "Oh dear, am I making you uncomfortable?"
He was sent reeling by a sudden, sharp slap to the side of his face. He staggered back a few paces and brushed his fingers against the stinging flesh, glaring at her. She was all fury, shaking with anger where she sat and her azure eyes alight with a raging inferno. Good, he'd been dealing with that same desperate ire ever since he'd awoken and he was more than ready to give it all to the girl who had caused him so many problems.
"Stay the fuck away from me!"
"You really are a fool," he hissed. "So quick to think I'd jump in bed with Cipher – do you realize how much I've lost to them? My organization, what was left of my empire, my people, my pokémon – they are all gone!"
"As if you fucking care!" she retorted. "As if someone so cruel and vindictive as you has the capacity to really care about someone other than yourself!"
"Don't you dare!"
A savage shriek ripped itself from her throat and she launched herself at him. Maxie sneered and merely grabbed her by the wrist, roughly twisting her around so that her back was pressed against him. He kept one arm held behind her back at a vicious angle and pinned the other one against her chest. "Don't start something you can't finish Miss Maple," he hissed venomously into her ear. "I promised not to hurt you, but do not push me I -"
The threat died in his throat when he realized that she was crying.
Pressed against him as she was he could feel that sobs racking her shoulders and she went limp in his arms. All of the anger he'd felt just seconds before abruptly vanished and he immediately let her go as though he'd been burned. Rather than push away from him as he'd expected she turned and buried her face into his chest. Maxie hardly dared to breathe as she clutched at his shirt, holding on to him for dear life. He sighed deeply and hesitantly wrapped his arms around her small frame. It was entirely inappropriate, he knew that, but right now they had to rely on each other and they would get nowhere if they were at each other's throats.
He'd forgotten again that, while she had certainly grown up since they'd first met, she was still innocent in many regards. She'd stared danger in the face numerous times, but she'd never had to take a life, she'd never seen a friend or colleague murdered in front of her eyes before, she'd never been tapped in a situation where she was destined to lose – she'd never been truly powerless before. What she had done was show a great deal of trust in him and he'd responded with vicious verbal barbs and harsh rebuke. He felt her shake from a particularly violent sob and closed his eyes. He'd never felt more of a villain. "I'm – I'm sorry Miss Maple, I should not have treated you so harshly. That was very unkind of me."
"No, I shouldn't have accused you like that. I'm sorry," May said hoarsely and stepped out of his embrace. She scrubbed the tears from her face with the back of her hand. "You haven't turned your back on me yet."
"Well, I wouldn't particularly want to face Mr. Stone's wrath if I were to leave you behind."
That earned him a watery smile and she muttered something that sounded suspiciously close to 'jackass' through her sniffling.
"I heard that."
The laugh was dangerously close to a sob, but she managed to hold the pieces of herself together and finished drying her eyes. She dragged a hand through her matted hair and stood up straight like the Champion she once was. There you are Miss Maple.
"How are you doing?" she asked softly. He looked at her and had the sneaking suspicion that she wasn't talking about his injuries. It was difficult not to smile despite it all - even after he'd been a thorough scoundrel towards her she still wanted to know if he was alright. That girl's heart, for all her talk and bluster, was still far too large for her own good...and for some reason that notion comforted him.
"I'll be fine," he said quietly. "What about you?"
"I – I don't know," she replied honestly. "This is so different – so different than when I had to deal with you and Archie. This isn't what I expected."
"This is a war Miss Maple, and we've ended up on the front lines."
She rubbed at her arm and looked down at the floor. "I'm no soldier."
"You'll have to be before this is over," She looked up at him and he suddenly found it hard to hold her gaze, "You've been given your number, your uniform and your gun, you've no choice in that matter anymore...but you don't have to stand alone."
Her azure eyes softened ever so slightly and he had to look away.
"Ah, here we are."
Their reconciliation was cut short by a shrill electronic beep as the door to their cell opened. An elderly man wearing a lab coat entered, flanked by two Cipher guards armed with rifles. The man in the lab coat smiled, exposing crooked teeth. "Hello Miss Maple, it's time to begin your procedure."
On cue the two guards stepped forward. Held at gun point there was little Maxie could do as they seized her by the arms and dragged her kicking and screaming from the cell. The door swung shut behind them, locking automatically. He leaned against the plexiglass and watched, feeling utterly helpless as she was hauled away, her screams eventually fading into a deafening silence. "Bow your head and weather the storm," he murmured.
Fight them girl, fight them as hard as you can.
Island Wolf: Gah I'm sorry there wasn't much by way of Maxie/May interaction - I tried to work in as much as I could, but I needed to push the plot along too. Ardos is so tricky to write, dude skeeves me out. Oh, I also just wanted to make a note for all my grammar/spelling buffs out there - I use Canadian/British spellings so if a word may look a little strange, I may have just used the alternate spelling - that or I just royally cocked it up, that tends happens when you try to write after a bottle of red wine and two Irish coffees haha.
Cheers!