Crimson Rain (23 page)

The smell was strong outside the door of the lab. Crimson didn
’
t have a weak stomach by any means, but it was still making her sick. Partly because of the worry that something had gone terribly wrong and what she may be breathing was toxic fumes that would kill her. The other part was the awful smell.

As she opened the door, she scanned the room cautiously with her eyes
,
looking for anything out of the ordinary. Quickly, she spotted something.

Dismembered arms. I knew I shouldn
’
t have left him alone.

She recognized the arms; they belonged to Max. She still couldn
’
t see him and began to think the worst. He
r
pulse quickened and she took a stance ready to fight. She hadn
’
t taken any weapons with her tonight. She didn
’
t think she would need them, especially in her own fortress.

Calm down, if
they
were assassins, how did they get in? What are they using? Plasma blades! I knew I recognized that awful smell. Okay, so where is Max? I need to go in and investigate.

She slowly peeked her head around the other side of the door and scanned more
of
the vast room tha
t
she couldn
’
t see from the hallway. She saw a body on the floor lying in front of the mirror. She slowly crept inside the room, still vigilant.

If those arms belong to Max, who is that body?

As she approached the mysterious body
,
she began to relax. There were no clear signs of anyone else in this room. It was just her, the corpse at her feet, and the creepy severed arms. The body lay there, seemingly lifeless, with one of its arms draped over its head, obstructing her view from seeing who it was.

She nudged it; no movement. Still cautious and not wanting to risk a sneak attack, she kicked the body as hard as she could in an attempt to roll it over. It worked; the body jumped to its feet screaming.

Before she even heard the words, she reacted, jumping on the man, attempting to pin him to the ground. He was fast and strong and grabbed her midair, tossing her across the room. She landed hard on the ground and sprung up as quickly as possible, ready to charge, when it registered in her mind.

That
’
s Max
’
s face…how the hell?

“
Damn it, you crazy ass woman. What the hell are you doing to me?
”
he blurted out, rubbing his side where she had kicked him.

“
Max! What did you do? I thought you had been murdered in here!
”

“
What gave you that bloody idea, you lunatic?
”

“
Oh, I don
’
t know?
The fact you
r
arms are lying on the ground over there perhaps!
”

She pointed. He remembered and realized that maybe he shouldn
’
t have left them lying around.
“
Well, my
love,
it
’
s fine!
”
he yelled sarcastically, wildly motioning his new prosthetics.

“
I can see that! I left you alone for four hours and you were exhausted. How was I suppose to know you were going to go wild, make yourself some kind of freakishly strong robotic prosthetics
,
and perform the operation on yourself
?
Did you somehow hint in your conversation before I left that you had this in mind? No! I thought an assassin came in, cut them off of your body
,
and you somehow…
”
Crimson started to trail off as she realized that what she thought may have happened was
equally
as preposterous as what had actually happened.
“
Look, Max
,
I didn
’
t mean to hurt you. I couldn
’
t see your face. Your arms…were lying on the frickin
’
floor! I didn
’
t know who you were, so excuse me for kicking you! Maybe you should sleep with a combat suit on.
”

“
Not a bad idea since rolling me over gently clearly isn
’
t an option! Damn!
”

The room was awkwardly quiet as their childish temper tantrum came to a halt. The air still smelled awful and Max
’
s face looked awful. She couldn
’
t help but notice he could only see out of one eye and that boosts used and unused were scattered all around the floor.

“
What made you do this to yourself?
”
she asked, sounding concerned.

“
Boredom and loathing to start… Then I thought to myself, why not be more than
your mad scientist brooding away in the corner of this coming conflict
? Even if I am stuck in a lab this whole war, I am going to need defense.
”

“
I gave you a gun and a plasma sword.
”

“
Yeah, you think I know how to swing a sword? You think I know how to shoot a gauss weapon? I
’
m a doctor. I fix people
,
I don
’
t break them. But if I
’
m going to help you, I need to be self
-
sufficient. So I made these; they were really easy. I went onto the net, got the blueprints for what the military uses on their soldiers, then made some modifications for the better.

“
I still need to replace my busted eye, however, with a robotic. That
’
s the next project. Complete with a targeting system. Both arms can shoot four miniature cold fission warheads each. They pack a punch, could destroy a building or a military armored vehicle of any kind, but like I said, I can
’
t even shoot a gauss pistol let alone have the accuracy to launch a warhead based off my sight
alone
.

“
The eye will be really cool. A self
-
guided targeting system for the warheads will make it so I don
’
t even have to aim so long as I can remember what I want it to find! Also, it will sync up with the arms
,
telling them how to aim at whoever I am shooting at with any form of weapon so I will be a crack shot with all firearms. When it gets down to the wire and you don
’
t need me in the lab, I want to provide cover fire for you on your assaults. I will be able to hit anything from a mile or more away provided the right sniper rifle. I
’
ll be good cover, I swear!

“
Also, as I am sure you noticed as I flung you across the room, these arms are much stronger than my old ones. Sure, they aren
’
t as pretty. The skin is more of a dust cover than anything, but I was working on a tight schedule, remember? Side note
,
doll face
!
T
his lab is amazing!
Anyways, as I was saying, they are much stronger both in durability and in force. So even if I am dealing with someone at close range, I should be able to hold my own. That plasma katana you gave me won
’
t be useless to me anymore! So…you like?
”

Max was out of breath from speaking so fast. He was like an excited little child showing his mother what he made her in kindergarten. His face looked awful as he smiled. It was hard to imagine he had done it to himself.

“
Max… I knew you were smart. But this? This is amazing. You are more than what I was hoping for. A
soldier,
a doctor, and a scientist. I knew I needed you for a reason. Next time, try to clean up your excess body parts before I get home, however. I don
’
t want another one of these little tiffs.
”

Crimson had walked over to him by the time she was done speaking and had wrapped her arms around his body. His new arms were cold to the touch as they rested on hers made of flesh and blood. She looked into his one good eye with both of hers and as much as she saw excitement, she still saw sadness.

It was more than
some
random
spark of genius creativity that had caused him to disfigure his face like this and she knew it. It may have even been the same thing that drove him to severely modify his body to please her. She had to know what it was.

“
Max, why did you hurt yourself?
”

“
The arms? They didn
’
t hurt much at all. I used anesthetic.
”

“
Yeah, I saw you made a mess of the cabinet as well. You are like a destructive little puppy. I don
’
t mean the arms; I mean your face. Why did you do that?
”

Crimson was having a hard time seeing Max
’
s expression under the dried blood, bruises
,
and gashes on his face. He was contouring his mouth, though, to a frown and she could tell he was hesitating to tell her something. Finally, he spoke, looking unsure of himself.

“
When I got into college, I became an addict to serenity boosts. They ruled my life. I couldn
’
t get by without them. I needed them to sleep and I was severely addicted. Finally, I broke the habit…
”
He began to trail off as if he wasn
’
t going to finish, but her eyes pierced a void into his heart and he began to tear up.
“
I relapsed the other day. I was so nervous and worked up after I met you in the office, I couldn
’
t calm down and I used one again. It was the first time in three years and my cells have been screaming for more ever since. It
’
s going to take
a while
to break, but that isn
’
t the hard part. I felt like I had failed. I don
’
t like failure, never have. Failure makes me loathe myself and when I loathe myself, I punish myself. I always have, ever since I was young. I would smash my head into walls, punch myself, even cut myself on my legs or somewhere that wasn
’
t visible. It
’
s an addiction, too, but much harder to break than the boosts.
”

There was a long silence as they stood there holding each other. The tears that were in Max
’
s eyes had now turned into streams running down his face. The last little bit he had said sounded shaky, as if he were going to burst into hysterical crying at any time.

His body shook at the emotion of it all and Crimson held him tight. She could tell his mind was racing a mile a minute as she thought of how she wanted to put this. She wasn
’
t any good at being delicate, and in this moment, that was what he needed.

“
Max,
”
she said, sounding firm but soft.

“
Yes?
”

“
Don
’
t hate anyone from here on out except our enemies. I need that rage you feel for yourself, for your failures, redirected. Can you do that for me, please? I promise, we will succeed. You won
’
t face failure.
”

“
I think I can do that.
”

“
Good, then clean up, I
’
m starving. The date was a ploy of espionage. I completed my mission, had a few drinks free of charge, and now I am really hungry. I can
’
t remember if I even took a bite.
”

Max was shocked. She didn
’
t run screaming. But what had he expected? She was like nothing he
’
d ever known. He was happy to be her ally and to fight for her cause.
“
Okay, sounds good,
”
he said with a sigh, squeezing her tightly, careful not to hurt her with his newfound strength.

We Would Like You to Come With Us

He had only walked about nine blocks from Max
’
s office when two hover cars came whizzing up
alongside
of him, pulling off of the street and hovering on the sidewalk. The cars were blue with black tint and identical
other than their
tags. When they came up on him, one had strategically pulled in front, the other behind.