Welcome to Our Life -- Chapter 50: Max (X5-452)

Disclaimer:  The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Jondy, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me.  No money is being made off of this fic.  I only own the original characters (Elle/X5-164, etc.).

I adjusted the strap of the duffel bag that I was carrying and exchanged nervous looks with Mia as we rode up in the elevator of the apartment building that we were staying in for the duration of our mission. The ‘movers,’ a.k.a. Manticore ordinary soldiers with nothing better to do, had already brought in the furniture and sensitive equipment, plus they put our motorcycles in the secure underground garage. Mia and I had just gotten here ourselves with some clothes and other things. Months away from Zack, my family, and Manticore…it felt surreal on so many levels.

“Finally,” I muttered as the elevator reached the second of the two penthouse levels. Mia and I left the elevator and walked down the hall to the door to our place. I took my key from one of my jeans pockets and opened it. When the two of us walked inside, I couldn’t hold back a whistle of surprise. “Wow. Talk about a one-eighty from our accommodations back home.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Mia said. The place sure was set up nice. I couldn’t think of a single item in the apartment that didn’t cost more than the average yearly income of some random person, which isn’t too high of a bar these days. Mia ran her hand over the large couch in the living room and giggled. “An actual leather couch. You’ve got to feel this, Max.”

“Sure.” I walked over to the couch and put my hand on the armrest. I couldn’t help smiling myself. “You’re right, Mia. That is pretty sweet.” I set down my bag and sat down on the couch, waiting for Mia to park herself on it before continuing to talk. “So, here we are in Fogle Towers, Penthouse Apartment 2B. Got an old lady across the hall from us in 2A, a family directly below us in 1B, and down in 1A is our second target. I say we start scoping him tomorrow, once we’ve gotten a chance to settle in here.”

“That sounds good to me,” Mia said. “But what if he comes by first? The profile that we were given of him suggested that he was a, as one of your sisters once described somebody with a similar personality, ‘goody-goody.’”

The doorbell rang and I got up to answer it. I took a look through the peephole. Mia was right on the money. It was Logan Cale. I turned my head to look at my mission partner. “You are a P2 and not a P1, right?” Mia laughed and I opened the door. “Hi, can we help you?”

“Hi, my name is Logan Cale,” he greeted us. “I live downstairs in Penthouse 1A. I heard that there were people moving into this apartment and I just wanted to welcome you to the building.” He held out a plate. On it were a pile of chocolate chip cookies that looked and smelled absolutely fantastic. “Here. I made them myself.”

“Thank you,” I said. I turned around and set the plate down on the coffee table. I walked back to Logan and offered my hand. Human Etiquette 101: When meeting somebody for the first time, offer a polite introduction. “I’m Erica and this is my roommate, Marie. Nice timing. We literally got in here a couple of minutes ago. Were you watching from your window with binoculars or something?”

Logan laughed and looked at me. I got a distinctly uncomfortable feeling when he did. “No. I saw the moving trucks pull into the garage out of my window as I was having breakfast early this morning. I figured that you had come along with them. I didn’t know that you’d only just arrived now.”

“Logical assumption to make,” I conceded. “We thought about getting here with the trucks, but we decided not to because it would just be too much of a mess with us trying to get things organized and the movers.”

“That’s understandable,” Logan said. He smiled. I faked one back.

“Where are our manners?” Mia exclaimed. “Come on in, Mr. Cale. I’m afraid that the most we can offer is tap water or one of your cookies. They look absolutely yummy, by the way. Did you really make them yourself?”

“Please, call me Logan,” he insisted. “Unfortunately, I’ve got some work to do in my home office, so I really need to get going. It was nice to meet you, Erica, Marie.” He looked at me, gave me another smile, and left. I shut the door behind him and shook my head.

“Didn’t like him,” I declared.

Mia raised an eyebrow. “With the way that he was looking at you, I’m not surprised. He didn’t seem to be mentally undressing you, but he’s definitely at least got a crush. What are you going to do?”

“Considering that I’m the one who’s going to be primarily keeping tabs on him while you’re working the uncle, I don’t know.” I groaned, flopped down on the couch, and grabbed one of the cookies. “I guess I’ll have to play friends with him. Maybe if I’m lucky, he’ll drop the crush on me.” I took a bite of a cookie and nodded approvingly. It tasted even better than it looked and smelled. “Looks like I’ve got a reason to pretend to be friends with him: free food.”

“Especially with the way that you cook,” Mia teased.

“Seriously, though, what’s your read on him, aside from the crushing on me thing?” I asked.

Mia looked thoughtful. “He seemed like a polite enough man. I don’t think that we have to worry about him being a pervert or anything of that nature. His body language came across as somewhat nervous, but that could have been due at least in part to the effect that you were having on him. That’s the best impression that I can get considering that I’m a P2 and not P1. It wouldn’t have made sense for me to do my thing and ask him to tell us his life story, at least not yet.”

“Good call,” I agreed. “And on that note, it’s time to check in with base.” I went over to my purse and took out the cell phone that I had been given before Mia and I had left Manticore earlier. I hit a number on speed dial and waited for somebody on the other end to pick it up.

“This is Control, identify yourself.”

“X5-452 reporting as ordered, sir,” I said, rolling my eyes. I hate playing Goody-Soldier-Two-Shoes. I waited while the guys in Control got their heads out of their butts and looked up my mission specs.

“452, what is the status of yourself and P2-400?” Control finally asked.

“We have successfully arrived at our accommodations, sir,” I replied. “Once we have settled in, we will initiate contact with Logan Cale, Junior.” Mia looked amused at my little white lie and I shrugged. So what if I lied? Like I ever get the opportunity to lie to Manticore and get away with it clean.

“Excellent,” Control said. “Do so, and do not forget to report in every forty-eight hours. Control out.”

“X5-452 out,” I said. I disconnected and rolled my eyes. “Morons. It’s not a total lie, really. All I did was fudge the order in which we’re gonna get things done.”

Mia grinned. “This is going to be an interesting assignment with you, huh?”

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” I promised. “Let’s scope this crib.”