-1-
I follow the streets back to Honeysuckle Street, carefully replaying the bus’s route in my head.
I couldn’t wipe the stupid smile off my face. I felt free. Everybody on the streets is so intent on where they were going or on their syndicates that if they recognized me as Phoenix Maxwell they didn’t say anything.
1512 Honeysuckle Street is on a commercial block. The address belongs to a business called Virtue but I can’t tell what kind of business it is from the outside.
I jog up the steps and the softly lit frosted doors whir open as I step inside to be greeted by two receptionist behind a gleaming desk that wrapped around the small reception area. It smelled like flowers and the still silence of the reception area made me feel like I’d been zapped into another dimension.
Both the receptionists look me up and down before clicking their perfect smiles into place.
“Good afternoon, do you have an appointment?,” the female receptionist greets me.
“No, I-I um, I was looking for um, someone named Haley. Is he here ?”
“I’m sorry,” the male receptionist says. “There is no Haley here--”
“Um=…or maybe someone who knows him ? He told me to come, um--he might be gone now on the satelit—I mean, he said I should come here if I needed to find him.”
I sounded like an idiot. The woman blinks at me once, opens her mouth and then she shuts it again.
“Alex Haley is no longer affiliated with Virtue,” she says in a clipped tone.
“What about Luce ?,” I ask, wishing I knew his last name. “Or Isla Haley or maybe Summer Walker ? They said I could come here. I don’t know--”
“Please sit,” the male receptionist says suddenly. “I’ve called assistance.”
I sit in the chair and within seconds the front doors whir open again.
“Good Afternoon, Mr. Dory,” the receptionists say in unison.
I turn to see wiry tanned man in a sharp black suit with a jacket that looked like a mix between a blazer and a harness. His slicked back dark hair is accented with gray on the side and his eyes are a bright amber.
He’s holding a young child in his arms, I hadn’t seen that many kids that young—she couldn’t be older than two. Her shiny black hair was in a wispy high ponytail with a large white bow and her dark eyes wandered the room as she lays her head on the man’s shoulder.
“Did someone ring for me ?,” Mr. Dory smiles gently.
He smiles at me unnervingly and then walks right into my personal space, assessing me up and down.
“Mr. Dory--,” the male receptionist says at the same time I say, "It was me…I-I’m looking for Haley--”
“Oh, sweetheart,” Mr. Dory sighs. “He hasn’t worked for me in years…once he started covering the tattoos it was just a waste of both of our time. How old are you, my love ? I can’t give those pesky Justice officers a reason to walk in here.”
“I’m 15 but--”
He makes a pouting sound and sighs, adjusting the little girl on his hip. She makes a whining noise and he coos softly at her before stepping closer to me.
“Listen, I believe everyone should have a good fuck with a professional but Haley’s older than he looks. You’ll be a stunner in a few years but right now you’re practically a fetus,” he coos (this time at me), running his thumb down my chin.
“No—it’s not like that,” I correct him and then start talking too much. “Haley told me to come here if I needed to see him, but that was a few weeks ago so I just thought…someone here might know him or um, his fiancé but I’ll just go if…”
I was rambling nonsense and Mr. Dory wasn’t listening. His attention was just behind me, at the two receptionists. His eyebrow were pinched in amusement.
“What was that ?,” Mr. Dory asks them. “What are you mouthing to me ? What about him ? He’s what ? F-something ? He’s…ffff ? Feeee…nic ? Nix ? Phoenix ? What the hell does that even mean--”
He suddenly turns back to me, his eyes wide with recognition.
“Oh no,” Mr. Dory says shaking his head. “Oh, no, no,no,no,no,no,no. You should not be here, love. You can not be here. How the hell did you even get here ?”
“I snuck away from a school trip. Haley gave me this address if--”
“Fuck. Of course he did,” Mr. Dory sighs. “He used to work for me…but I think he’s back on that blasted rocket ship or whatever---”
The front doors whir open once again and reveal a dark haired pregnant woman in a long black gauzy dress. The tall heel on her sandal makes a loud deceleration as she stomps into the reception area.
The baby in Mr. Dory’s arm suddenly gets really excited and starts squealing at the pregnant woman.
“Jean!,” the pregnant woman shouts in a scolding tone.
Her right arm is covered in a sleeve of bright tattoos and in her left she’s holding another baby, this one even younger than the one Jean was holding. The baby is round faced with the same dark hair and in a lacey, flowery dress. She’s babbling with her little hand in her mouth and is the cutest, roundest thing I’ve ever seen.
“I was gone for like five fucking seconds,” the pregnant woman says in a pissed tone and gestures to the older girl in Mr. Dory’s arms. “You were supposed to keep her in your suite while I was gone.”
“Oh, Charlotte, relax. I came through the front entrance, I didn’t take her through the club,” he sighs and then switches to a high pitched baby voice. “Besides we had urgent business to attend to, didn’t we, babygirl ? Tell Mommy she’s being an annoying worrier.”
He bounces the girl in his arm and cuddles her, touching her face as she giggles wildly. The way he touches and kisses her face reminds me oddly of how my dad touched me.
I was probably around her age when I was taken.
“Tell grandpa he’s being a bad influence by not listening to Mommy! Yes he is !” the pregnant woman responds in an equally high baby voice.
“What have I told you about that grandpa word, Charlotte ?,” Mr. Dory says in a sharp tone and I can’t tell if he’s joking. “I have a name, if you can learn it my dear, they can learn it.”
“Better question,” Charlotte retorts sharply. “What the is Phoenix Maxwell doing here ?”
“Excuse me,” the male receptionist says before I can answer. “Mr. Dory, Mrs. Washington. There seems to be a small group of Federation police headed this way.”
“Fuck, not this again. This shit is so 10 years ago.” Mr. Dory says and turns to me. “The Federation is not finding you in this place. Charlotte, go take Mr. Maxwell to Pretty Boy…Luce is probably there. Let him be his problem.”
“Me ? Me take him ? Really ? You know the feds love questioning me.” she says exasperated.
“Yes, well take the baby with you. Besides none of these Eastern State trained officers want to make eye contact with a pregnant person. It's unnatural to them.”
“Gee, thanks,” she says exasperated.
“It’s the truth,” he says. “Personally, I think it suites you.”
Charlotte makes a half growl, half groaning noise and puts the smaller baby in a sleek black and gold stroller with white geometric shapes that hang in front of the baby’s face. The shapes glow a soft white when the baby reaches for them, much to her delight.
“Phoenix. Follow me,” Charlotte says in a tone that makes it seem like I don't have a choice. I follow her to the front door.
“Wait,” Mr. Dory calls as the doors open. “What did the doctor say ? What’s the verdict ?”
Charlotte’s face sobers and she makes a thumbs down sign in front of her belly.
“Another girl,” she sighs and then turns back to me. “Let’s go.”
***
“Your daughters are really pretty,” I tell her and immediately regret it. Charlotte fixes me with a pinched stare.
I didn’t know what else to say, the words just came out.
We’d been walking in awkward silence for a few minutes, aside from the occasional cooing from the baby and soft thud of the wheels on the stroller.
“Yeah,” she says, her face softening. “Unfortunately my husband really needs a son.”
“Why ?”
“Stupid cartel bullshit,” she says. “Washington tradition says it has to be a boy running the cartel. Normally a boy is always the first born but tradition isn’t on our side. This time we even had genetic splicing to tip the favor to boy by 98%.”
I suddenly stop walking and she looks annoyed.
I should have known I was walking right into those cartel connections my guardian mentioned. But I couldn’t be caught with the cartel, especially not the leaders’ wife. Maxwell would think I was colluding with them and I could only imagine the punishment.
“I…I don’t think I thought this through.”
“What ? We’re almost there,” she says.
“I just…if Maxwell finds out I’m here with you--”
“Nobody has to know where you are. Jean’s a good liar. The police won’t even know you were there and you got rid of your Syndicate so they can’t track you…just tell your school you got lost.”
She keeps walking and I follow, making a plan. I’ll see Luce, give him a quick message to send to my guardian and run back to the volunteer site as fast as I can.
“We all couldn’t believe it when Haley and Luce took you,” she says suddenly. “They didn’t tell anyone they were doing it until it was over. Maxwell almost shut down Virtue over it but he could never find any proof. Zacharias, my husband, was so amused back then… if it happened nowadays he’d probably kill them both for putting us in the spotlight like that.”
“How did you…get involved ?,” I asked her. “I mean with the cartel.”
“My father’s been involved my whole life.” she says. “Zacharias and I were always friendly, we’d grown up together and our parents were...interesting so we both had to grow up fast. When Ri tarted running MBC I told him if we were both still single in 5 years I’d be open to an arranged marriage and…here we are.”.
She waves her hand in front of a minimalist looking café with wide glass windows. The inside looks like a mix between a silent arcade and a coffee shop with muted holographic games on the walls, small tables, soft lighting and the smell of fresh coffee.
Except between the coffee and gaming consoles were people getting tattoos and piercings.
Through the large window I spot Luce sitting in a plush brown chair facing the street. Next to him a bald man covered in tattoos wearing nothing but a vest and shorts is straddling someone lying face down in a tattooing chair, pushing a needle into their skin. Charlotte waves through the window and as Luce looks up our eyes meet. He does a double take on me and literally chokes on his coffee.
As Charlotte and I walk inside the
shop, a still coughing Luce nudges the person getting tattooed in the chair
next to him and when the person lifts their face up I see it’s my guardian,
Haley.
-2-
He doesn’t see me at first, he just shoots a quizzical glance at Luce but when Luce inclines his head toward me, Haley’s expression changes to something more fearful.
“What are you doing here ?,” he asks, brushing off the tattoo artist hunched over his body. “You can’t be here.”
It was a good question. I didn’t know what possessed me to leave my class at the volunteer site. I hadn’t planned on seeing him and I didn’t know what I wanted to tell him.
Haley’s not wearing a shirt and for the first time I see half of his upper body is covered in profane tattoos and RLA propaganda.
And then there were the brands, my eyes seemed to land on them like some kind of sick search and find amid the ink. On his shoulder. On his side. On his hip. On his chest. On his clavicle.
KM.KM.KM.KM.KM
He should have warned me. He must have known Maxwell was a violent psychopath and he just let me go to him.
“Why aren’t you on the Star ?,” I demand.
“Fuck,” Luce says standing suddenly. “El just messaged me that a bunch of pissed off military police are coming this way. We gotta go, Lex.”
“It's not me. I took my Syndicate out, they can’t track me,” I say quickly and Luce glares at me.
“What did they teach you on that space ship ?,” Luce scoffs. “Nobody trusts a syndicate to track people, the tracking chip is in your brain implant not the syndicate.”
“Can you deactivate him,” Haley says, pulling a shirt over his head, one that seemed to be tailor specifically to cover just the RLA tattoos.
Without asking me, Luce puts his hand on my forehead and I feel a sharp snap as something in my head is deactivated. I'm dizzy and Luce hustles me to the doors of the tattoo/arcade/coffee shop but before we can leave Luce turns back to face Charlotte.
“Coming, your highness ?,” Luce asks her teasingly.
“I’m going to stay here,” Charlotte says sitting in the tattooing chair. The bald tattoo artist had picked up her baby from the stroller and was showing her around the shop. “Something tells me you guys are going to be running and I’ll slow you down. If the blueboys come asking around I’ll throw them off your course. You know how much they love me.”
She winks at the last part.
I was going to say thank you to Charlotte but my guardian pushes me through the door. Once we get around the block I can hear the sirens and the sounds of the police raiding the street behind us.
I follow Luce and my guardian through the streets and small alleys until we get to a rundown looking building with a fire escape on the outside. We run up the fire escape, and I just try not to look down as we climb higher and higher up it.
I’m barley keeping up with them, the only reason I wasn’t passed out already was because of those few weeks of physical training at military school.
Above me Luce grabs the edge of a nearby balcony railing and pulls himself up and over the balcony.
“Go up,” Haley says and moves over on the fire escape step so I can get in front of him and pull myself up to the balcony before him.
I’m able to hoist myself over the
balcony with minimal assistance.
Haley climbs up and over the balcony railing easily and we walk through the open balcony doors into an apartment. The apartment is not as ornate as the house I’d been living in. It has a cool starkness with mostly gray furniture. It’s was messy and cluttered, but not in a gross way.
“Why aren’t you back on the Star?,” I ask him again as he pulls a sheer white curtain over the open balcony we just came through.
He looks at me, crossing his arms.
“Because…” he says softly. “I saw you on the news. You seemed…off. I wanted to make sure you were adjusted.”
“You were right, okay ? ” I admit, my tone harsher than I mean. “Having parents sucks. I feel like I’m suffocating down here. How come you didn’t warn me about Maxwell ?”
His relaxed posture goes rigid.
“What about Maxwell ?,” he says through gritted teeth. “Did he do something to you ?”
I know I’ve said too much. I never want to admit what Maxwell did to me and I don’t want my guardian to feel responsible for it.
“It just…wasn’t what I thought. I don’t belong there,” I say. “It doesn’t matter. Since you’re still here let’s just go back to the Star together. I can’t be Phoenix Maxwell…I think Major Prescott will be upset if I leave but I think he’ll understand.”
A loud knock at the door causes
us both to jump. Haley’s head snaps to
Luce who was sitting on the couch with his body spread to take up most of the couch.
Luce lazily brings up a projection of a blacked out screen.
“What’s wrong with your security camera ?,” Haley whispers, staring at the blacked out screen.
“Someone is blocking the lens of the door--,” Luce starts and then stops. “Did you hear that ?”
“What ?”
“Shhh. Listen.”
The room is dead silent and I hear the soft hiss as the front door of the apartment slides open and Maxwell steps in completely alone. No honor guard or police or even Carrington.
Just him.
-3-
“I fucking knew it,” Maxwell growls and when he looks over at me my blood goes cold. “Just when I was trusting you, Phoenix. I’ve had a lo-jack installed on you the moment your lying ass showed up in Ft. Perch. You’re just as bad as Haley.”
My guardian stands completely still, staring at Maxwell.
“You’ve been fucking with me for over a decade and that ends right now,” Maxwell says as he slowly approaches my guardian. “You stole my only son and turned him against me. You cost me my presidency, my marriage and everything I've ever fucking worked for. You are going to spend the rest of your life chained to a wall in prison cell you cockwhore piece of shit--”
Maxwell reaches into his belt and pulls out his gun and points it at Haley.
At the sight of the gun Luce charges from the couch, he reaches into his ankle to pull out his own gun but before he can even get it out of the holster Maxwell pulls a small square device from his pocket and presses it. A small red dot of light appears on the device as it emits a high pitched hum.
I can almost feel the small electromagnetic wave. The apartment dims as all the lights and everything with electricity or digital tech shuts off—including Luce's cybernetics. Luce stops mid-motion and just collapses to the floor face first like a dropped toy.
“Time to say goodbye.” Maxwell breaks into a vindictive smiles and unloads a series of bullets into Luce’s prone body.
Maxwell reaches back and grabs him by his hair and pulls, wrenching Haley away from him. But Haley he has a death grip on Maxwell’s neck. Maxwell lifts his hand with the gun and brings it down across Haley's face. This disorients him for a second and he lets go, falling awkwardly on his knees. Maxwell raises the gun to hit him again.
And I run towards them.
I mean to push Maxwell off my guardian so he won’t hit him with the gun but I push too hard.
Maxwell can't catch himself. He stumbles backwards over Luce’s fallen body and loses his balance. His arms windmill as he sails backwards into the white curtain, through the open balcony and over the railing's edge.
He lands with an ugly smack on the street below.
I open my mouth and scream. My guardian stares at me, turns to look at the balcony Maxwell just fell through and then back at me.
Fuck.
No.
My brain races with what I’ve just done.
“I…I killed him,” I say and I’m crying again. The tears just rush out and I can’t stop them.
I pushed him. I killed a man. I killed my father.
“I didn’t mean to—I—I—I--I killed--”
“No, you didn’t. You didn’t do anything.” my guardian says, rushing towards me. He nervously touches my shoulder and then seems to think 'fuck it' and hugs me.
It’s the first time he’s ever hugged me and I can’t reciprocate. I pull away from the embrace.
“I didn’t mean to---I pushed him but I didn’t mean for---”
“No,” he says firmly. “No, you didn’t do anything. I did. Do you understand ? I killed that fucking asshole. I pushed him off the balcony. ”
“But--”
“I did. I did it. He was attacking me. I hated him. I pushed him. I wanted him dead. Do you understand that?,” he says forcefully.
“N-n-o--”
“Lex did it,” a strained voice interrupts and we both turn to see Luce trying to sit up, his hand clutching his chest and his eyes half lidded.
“Luce,” Haley whispers, quickly abandoning me to crouch beside his fiancé.
“No fun in being a cyborg if you aren’t mostly bulletproof.” Luce grimaces. “You should know I’m not going out at the hands of that asshole.”
“Help me get him to the couch,” my guardian barks at me.
“But…Maxwell’s body—it’s still out there--”
“Nobody in this neighborhood is calling the police just because they see a dead body in the middle of the road,” Haley says. “Especially if it belongs to Kenneth Maxwell.”
Luce is bigger than both of us and feels like he weighs a ton. It takes a lot of effort to move him the short distance from the floor to the couch. He grunts in pain and throws out more expletives than I knew existed.
There are ragged holes in his clothing from the gunshots and while the skin underneath looks damaged it’s not gushing blood. Instead a mix of thin pinkish blood and some purple looking gelatinous liquid is seeping out of him.
I catch glimpses of the exposed complex cybernetic hardware embedded into his body. If I didn’t know any better I’d think he was a really advanced AI.
“Should I call Ala--,” Haley begins, stacking pillows to elevate Luce on the couch.
“Already called him.” Luce grimaces, propping himself up on the pillows. “Bring me a fucking drink.”
Haley rushes to the stainless steel kitchen counter in the center of the open room and pours a shot of pure alcohol into a clear glass tumbler followed by brandy and a splash of black wine.
He’s handing the glass to Luce when the front door of the apartment opens and a couple stride through arm in arm. They are both blonde but don’t look like siblings. The woman has the ends of her loose curls dyed light pink and is wearing a sheer white dress over a gold and green stripped bathing suit.
The man looks slightly disheveled in an ensemble of faded black clothes underneath a well fitting white medical coat.
“Welp, this isn’t how I wanted to spend my one day off,” the woman announces as she struts the rest of the way in on her gold high heels. “ We were almost out the door when you called. I swear, Luce if its not Rias being a pain in my ass it’s you--”
She stops when she sees me and closes her eyes. Her lids are painted in a shade of pink that lightens as it reaches her eyebrows.
“Oh. It gets worse,” she sighs and turns sharply to Luce and Haley. “Kidnapping ? Again ? Really ? Atleast pick a different fucking person.”
I notice the blonde man who came in with her had ducked back into the hall and is now leading an automated gurney, guiding it as it slowly rolls into the room on it’s own wheels. The power is still out from the device Maxwell had, but the sun is coming in through the open balcony and I can see Maxwell's body lying on the automated gurney.
“Think you dropped this,” the man says inclining his head down to Maxwell’s body and the woman barks a laugh.
“How fucking stupid are you, Alan ?,” Luce groans from the couch. “I told you to leave that in front of that new Mjollner brothel. Ma would kill me if she knew you brought a dead body in here.”
“He’s not dead, smartass.” Alan shoots back. “This is only a 6 story drop. You should have snapped his neck or something before tossing him.”
“Luce didn't do it. I did it. It was an accident,” Haley says quickly. “I pushed him out the balcony.”
Alan and woman both exchange a grin at that.
“An accident ? That’s a cute way to put it,” the woman says incredulously.
“It’s the truth, Minnow,” he says so convincingly.
She shrugs and crosses her arm, assessing the scene. Her eyes keep coming back to me.
“His spine is fucked but the bone isn’t shattered too badly.” Alan says looking into his syndicate. “I’ve got this blacklist Siberian nanotech part…I could maybe have him sitting up in a few hours. Or, I mean the nanotech could kill him…it’s still pretty experimental.”
“Forget about Maxwell,” Haley says. ”That’s not why we called you. Luce is hurt.”
Alan goes to Luce while Minnow sits on a stool, drinking the wine from the bottle my guardian had opened and scrolling through her syndicate—like she sees nearly dead bodies of prominent world leaders everyday and it’s no big deal.
I watch Haley slowly approach the abandoned gurney quietly and look at Maxwell, who was laying perfectly still. I steal a glance at his face and while Maxwell’s body is not moving at all his face is making weird motions like a tick and I can hear him taking quiet erratic breaths. His eyes are traveling the room rapidly, as if he is trying to communicate something.
“He’s still conscious ?,” Haley calls to Alan, placing his hand on the gurney. “He’s still in there ?”
“Yeah, he knows what’s going on. And judging by how he looked at me when we picked him up I think he remembers my Strange days,” Alan. He’d put on special goggle- looking glasses to look at Luce’s wounds.
“And he can’t move at all ?,” Haley asks.
“What the fuck do you think spinal cord injury means ?,” Alan retorts
“Watch how you talk to him,” Luce snaps and then grimaces at something Alan pokes him with.
I turn back to Haley who is running his fingers through Maxwell’s thinning hair. Maxwell’s rapid eye movements still at the touch. He looks right at me and makes a breathy sound that sounds like something between a grunt and a rasp.
Haley runs his middle finger across the seam of Maxwell’s lips, then presses his middle and index fingers into Maxwell's mouth and down his throat. Maxwell starts making a choking sound and his eyes water.
“Shh. Shh. Shhh,” Haley coos to him, thrusting his fingers in and out of Maxwell's mouth. “It will all be over soon.”
Haley reaches behind himself and picks up a small object of a side table. He removes his fingers from Maxwell’s mouth and climbs on top of the gurney, straddling Maxwell’s body with his knees.
He opens the object in his hand and I see it’s a Mojave Blade Company pocket knife, I recognize the iconic gold stripe in the center of the blade. He runs the flat side of the blade across Maxwell’s left eyelid.
“Lex, what the fuck do you think you're doing ?,” Luce barks through gritted teeth.
Luce is still slumped on the couch, glaring across the room at his fiancé like a disapproving parent.
Alan is picking at something in Luce’s arm with what look like high powered tweezers—pulling out small wires and little flat discs instead of pieces of skin.
“Nothing,” my guardian says quietly, sliding the very tip of the small blade over the zipper on Maxwell’s pants.
“Like hell. Get the fuck away from him,” Luce orders.
“I'm sorry. But, no.” Haley says, using Maxwell’s
pocket square to wipe the wetness from his eyes and nose.
“Alex-”
“This is my chance--”
“No it's not. Leave that fucking asshole alone.” Luce growls. “You are not sinking to his level. Get off of him. Now.”
He says it like a command and after a heavy sigh my guardian obeys.
He somehow gracefully gets off the gurney and walks to kneel on the ground beside Luce, who tries to touch his hair with his hand but winces instead.
“If it makes you feel any better, he wouldn’t have been able to feel anything.” Alan adds. “That’s kind of what a broken spinal cord means. His vertebrae…”
Alan lets his sentence trail off because neither of them are listening to him, they are whispering to each other and Alan doesn’t look at all offended at being ignored.
“What do you think we should do with him ?,” Haley says to Luce in a normal tone.
“ I don’t mind stopping his heart,” Alan offers. “Or we can keep him on ice in the lab for Rias to use for levera—"
“AHEM. AHEM,” Minnow coughs standing and pointing to me. “Hey, idiots, maybe we should take care of the kid before we talk shop ? And Rias can’t know about any of this. This bullshit isn’t what keeping a low profile looks like.”
Haley turns to me and points to a door.
“Can you go into the bedroom for a few minutes ?” he asks “You shouldn’t hear this. It’ll only be a few minutes.”
I wanted to protest, I’d heard enough as it was but I go into the bedroom and the door closes behind me. I gather it’s Luce’s bedroom from the clothes in the closet, computers and small gun armory.
The bed is unmade and covered in a mix of Luce and my guardian’s clothing….Along with a pair of handcuffs, pieces of silk tied into knots and other things I don’t stare at too hard.
I step away from the bed and sink into the large plush leather chair by the large window. Luce has a pretty good view of the Sprawl and it’s infinite streets of people and skyscrapers.
***
-4-
I startle awake what must be hours later.
The bedroom is pitch black, the only light coming from the lit up skyline outside the window.
I feel my way over the door and slowly open it. The power must still out because the living room is dimly lit by several candles and LED orbs that give the room a soft glow.
I spot my guardian and Luce still on the couch, Luce’s empty wine glass is rolling on the floor and my guardian is on his knees between Luce’s legs. Luce’s bare torso looks like it’s literally been sculpted out of tanned marble, showcasing muscles I don’t think my body even has. He’d look invincible if not for the reddened skin near the silver bandages dotting the places where he’d been shot.
Luce is smoking from Maxwell’s pipe and he and my guardian are just staring at each other intensely and whispering again. When my guardian slips his hand in Luce’s pants, I quickly step back into the bedroom and shut the door behind me.
I’m about to pretend to still be asleep when the bedroom door swings open.
“Sky-I mean—are you awake ?,” My guardian says peeking into the bedroom holding one of the candles.
“Why did you let me go to sleep like that ?,” I ask.
“You looked tired,” he says. “You should come out here--”
“No, I--”
“I need to tell you something,” he says.
I follow behind him into the living room, I notice his hair is tied back with a strip of the tie Maxwell was wearing earlier. With the low neck of his shirt and his hair pulled back the MK on the back of his neck is prominent. It must have been there the whole time and I’d been an idiot to have never noticed it.
I can’t help but to notice Luce has a fluffy floral blanket over his lap even thought it’s hot in the apartment without the air conditioning running. I startle when I realize Maxwell is still in the living room.
His gurney is tilted up slightly to face the couch and he is still alive. Maxwell’s eyes are open and he looks pissed. He makes eye contact with me and starts making the raspy choking sound that I’m pretty sure is a plea for help.
“I called--,” Haley starts but is interrupted by a knock on the apartment door.
“Don’t fucking open that. Security camera is still down,” Luce barks after Haley as he goes for the door.
“It’s okay. Can you unlock the door ?”
“No, Lex, not unless I know who it is,” Luce argues. “What the hell is wrong with you ?”
Haley quickly taps what must be an override code to unlock the door. Luce tries to get himself up to stop him but before he can do anything my dad, Major Prescott, walks through the unlocked door.
Like Maxwell earlier, he is completely alone.
When my Dad sees me he runs to me and pulls me into one of his possessive embraces that makes me go stiff.
“How did you find me ?,” I ask stepping away from my Dad.
“It’s okay, Phoenix. I’m not mad at you.” My Dad rubs the back of my neck.
“I sent him a message…I told him to come here to get you,” Haley answers my question. “You got here fast.”
My dad turns, noticing him for the first time. He pulls me closer to his side.
“I was already in the neighborhood searching.”
“Why would you call him ?,” I demand from my guardian.
“Good question,” Luce grumbles.
I couldn’t believe he’d betrayed me. He knew I wanted to go back to the ship and back to my old life.
“You said Prescott treated you well,” Haley says. “He’s your father…your real family. You have to go with him.”
“No, I don’t.” I tell him. “I’m not Phoenix Maxwell I’m Sk--”
“No you’re not,” my guardian says forcefully. “That is just a name I made up. It was selfish what I did to you. I fucked up your life and I’m sorry for the that but I’m not doing it anymore. You have to go with your father…it’s the right thing.”
I just stare at him, unbelieving. Who was he to suddenly know what was right for me ?
“I always knew it was you,” my dad says, his eyes crawling over my guardian. He sounds amused, not angry, almost like he’s suppressing a laugh. “This whole time…did you have him this whole time ?”
“Yes,” my guardian says quietly. His eyes keep going to the floor, like he can’t look my Dad in the eye.
“Max told me the truth about Fort Pride” my Dad says to him. “A few days after Phoenix was taken, he broke down and confessed every single thing he’d done to you. Before that I’d let myself believe you were his jaded lover not--”
“An innocent kid your psychotic motherfucker of a husband raped for years ?,” Luce finishes and I feel like I’m going to be sick. I don’t want to talk about this anymore, I just want to go back home on the ship.
Luce is suddenly fiddling with a gun, moving it from hand to hand.
“….I probably should have filed a report or left him the moment he told me what he did at Ft. Pride but… I couldn’t,” My dad admits.
My dad’s grip on my shoulder tightens as he looks around the room, his gaze sweeping over Luce and landing the gurney in the corner. Maxwell was making the wheezing sound again.
“In your message you said Max was hurt,” My dad says. “How bad is it ?”
“Bad,” Haley responds.
“Are you going to tell me what happened ?”
“He pulled a gun on me and I pushed him off the balcony,” he lies easily. “We have a doctor, he said Maxwell’s spine is broken but he’ll live…I mean, if you want him to.”
“What is that supposed to mean ?” my dad says sternly.
“I know what Maxwell is like,” Haley says. “How he uses and manipulates people. The only one who wants him dead more than me is you.”
“You don’t know--”
“Also, Luce hacked into your therapists’ files. You know he shouldn’t ever be in power. This is your way out.”
My father’s face goes still.
“I’m not playing widower and carrying his legacy around the rest of my life,” my dad scoffs. “What does his recovery look like ? Years ?,”
He walks over to Maxwell’s body and
stares down at it, his arms crossed. Maxwell starts making the noise, his eyes imploring my dad.
“It depends what surgeon you go to,” Haley says. “It depends how much you want him to actually recover.”
My dad puts his hands over Maxwell’s and a single tear comes down my dad’s cheek.
“I loved you, I really did. I wanted us to have something real. I’m sorry, Max. But if I don’t stop you now you’re just going to ruin more lives.” My dad says and then turns back to them. “Can we just keep him like this ?”
“A car accident would be good cover…driverless car gone rogue” Luce says. “Our bodyhacker has a surgeon cover and can meet push the story. Legally he’s too old for cybernetic enhancement so no one would question why he didn’t get them.”
“We can find someone to build his adaptive technology,” Haley adds. “Remove a few key phrases from Maxwell’s vocabulary. Like ‘help’ and ‘this is a set up’”
“And when would this driverless car accident have happened ?,” my dad asks.
“It'll have to be tomorrow night,” Luce says. “Alan’s on vacation, apparently."
My dad scoffs and folds his arms.
“Make sure the crash happens near our beach house,” my dad says. “It’s the only place he drives alone. I take it you already know where it is.”
Luce nods and my dad comes back over to me, loops an arm over my chest and looks at my former guardian.
“I….Thank you, Haley--”
“You shouldn’t thank me--,” he starts
“No, I shouldn’t,” my Dad says sternly. “You did an awful thing. I will never forgive you for that…but you were good to my son--”
“… I wasn’t--”
“It wasn’t a question but a statement.” My dad says. “Phoenix is clearly traumatized and confused by all this. He’s going to need a lot of therapy but…he’s also thoughtful, kind, intelligent. You raised him well enough.”
“I--,” my guardian starts
“And even though I know why you took him it was still a kidnapping and attempted murder of a minor. There is no statue of limitations for that crime. I can’t ignore that. The entire city wants justice for what happened, I can’t in good conscience look the other way on your crimes against my son.”
“What are you saying ?,” Haley laughs. “We just colluded on staging an accident to permanently paralyze the former president of the federation. Are you seriously about to arrest me ?”
“We both hate Maxwell but I’m not about to just let the man who stole my only son for a decade walk away from me. You don’t just get to get away with that. I took an oath and I have to call the authorities.” my dad says and sighs. “But I’ll give you a 10 minute head start.”
My guardians eyes move slowly in his head for a few moment and then he bolts across the apartment to the bedroom. He comes back with a leather duffel bag in seconds, like he was always packed for if he had to go on the run…which maybe he was. They both probably were.
He sprints over to Luce, who was holding his bare chest and leaning against the wall, even though it looked painful for him to be standing right now.
“Sorry to cut it short,” Haley says, balancing on the couch’s arm to kiss Luce’s forehead.
“I was getting sick of your bullshit anyway,” Luce says easily as their lips meet.
It seems like they are going to break apart but they seem lost in the touch of their lips. It was like the thing people did in movies when they were in love.
“Your 10 minute head start already started,” my Dad says sternly, clearing his throat.
My guardian pulls away from Luce and walks to me, standing a few feet in front of me.
“Phoenix,” he says and it still makes me so angry he’s calling me that. “I’m so sorry I did this to you. I’m sorry you got mixed up in this. I hope one day you forgive me.”
“I do forg--”
He hugs me, taking the words right out of my mouth.
He then looks at my Dad, they exchange a glance and then he runs out the door.
“Don’t do anything stupid!,” Luce calls after him
“No promises,” my guardian calls back as the door closes behind him and he disappears into the night.
Luce tells my dad he’ll get a phone call about Maxwell being in an accident tomorrow evening, they shake hands and then we leave.
My dad has an unmarked car parked around the corner and on the nearly hour long drive back to Ft. Perch he starts drafting a speech to announce the end of Maxwell’s presidential campaign and their intention to file for divorce.
I’m on edge the whole time, waiting for him to make the call to the Justice about Haley and hoping Haley had enough time to make it out of the city.
“When are you going to call the authorities on Haley ?,” I finally blurt out when we pull up to the house. I can’t wait any longer.
“It’s late,” Dad says as we go into the house. “I’m going to bed.”
End
A/N