Crimson Rain (44 page)

He grabbed her by her arms and pinned them to her sides. With his new strength, there was no way she could resist. Her breathing deepened and her face looked unsure. Max leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips only at first. They both lingered in the moment and Max slipped his tongue into her mouth. As he moved it rhythmically back and forth, her heart began to race. Her face flushed and her breathing became labored as she passionately kissed him back. He ended it by biting her lower lip gently and pulling back.

“
I
’
ll show you much more when this is all over, babe,
”
he said, spinning her back around and slapping her butt.

Crimson was angry at Max and aroused at the same time. She had never had anyone bring out that reaction in her before. She had always used sex as a weapon, the way it was used against her as a child. She never had any interest in being with anyone in that way. But this little moment had awakened a new feeling deep within her. Catching her breath, she managed to huff out,
“
I look forward to it. That
’
s why you can
’
t die, Max.
”

Her breathy voice was the most sensual thing Max had ever heard. If he didn
’
t have a drastic time limit and a lot of work to do, he would have taken her right then and there, but his eyes darted back over to the console.

“
I know. Now you need to get lost, sweetheart. Big Daddy Max has got some work to do,
”
he said jokingly, grinning.

“
Al
l
right Deadeye, Big Daddy Max,
”
Crimson said, turning to him so he could see her rolling her eyes.

Crimson left and Max sat back at his console, returning to work.

*
*
*
*

Zarfa had been giving the lectures all day. No two were the exact same. He drew off of the audience. The effect seemed to be the same each time, however. A general sense of unity and loyalty. He felt that the battle would go great and he predicted less than ten percent casualties on his side.

It was late and he was tired. He went back to his home to rest. When he entered, he smelled his favorite dish. Green curry chicken with eggplant. It was nearly impossible to find the ingredients anymore.

Sarah came out of the kitchen holding a clay pot filled with the delicious food and set it on the table in front of him
as he sat
. Her eyes were dull and weary-looking. He could tell she was worried. He would be lying if he said he wasn
’
t.

“
I don
’
t know how many more meals either of us will have,
”
she started with tears in her eyes.
“
It took me all day to track down the ingredients and I spent a small fortune on them. I knew it was your favorite, though, and I felt you deserved it,
”
she said, sitting next to him at the table.

Zarfa smiled and grabbed her hand to reassure her. He gently caressed the top of her hand and forearm. The loving touch soothed her and helped her to relax. He looked into her weary, beaten eyes and showed her with his actions that he appreciated what she had done for him.

“
Join me in eating it, will you? It smells delicious and it wouldn
’
t be fair for you to slave over this gift for me only to have me devour it in front of you. Plus, what is good food if it isn
’
t shared with the ones you love?
”

Sarah began crying and fell on her brother
’
s chest. She sobbed and her tears soaked his shirt. Her hot breath felt heavy on his chest and he gently caressed the back of her neck, trying to relax her. He didn
’
t feel like he was any good at comforting anyone, but he would try.

“
Look, everything is going to be okay, Sarah. I will come back from this. You will come back from this. We will both have families and live out the rest of our days in peace, and whatever evils you
’
ve seen and done will no longer haunt you. You will be able to rest at night knowing you
’
ve atoned for whatever you have done…and then some.
”

“
Thank you,
”
she said as she began to sniffle.
“
It
’
s like an awful nightmare I can
’
t wake up from
,
”
s
he said into his chest.

“
I know, Sarah,
”
he said
,
stroking her long, black hair.

Her hair looked like spun raven feathers and flowed down to between her shoulder blades. She was still the young, beautiful sister he had always remembered, but now she was damaged. She was damaged by a bad conscience and the horrors of war, manipulation, and abuse of power.

She was damaged by having a trusted parent betray her and the haunting thought of having to seek putting him to death in the name of justice. In the years she spent amongst the Faraza, she
’
d aged an eternity in mind and spirit. As the battle approached, she felt anxiety and feared that her brother, the only anchor in her life, would vanish.

She feared the harsh reality that at any moment, he may be ripped from her life. His soul may be torn from his body on the battlefield. He had brushed with death so many times it seemed as if he had used up all of his luck, and she worried this would be one of his final nights.

She worked hard to push the thoughts from her mind. She managed to stop her tears and her sobbing before the food cooled off. She drew her face back from her brother
’
s chest and dished him up first, then herself. They sat and ate without saying anything more.

When the meal was over, she sat staring at her brother
’
s face, admiring the strong character he held. Admiring his courage, bravery, and precise way of thinking, and she smiled. She grabbed Zarfa
’
s hand and said,
“
I love you, brother. I wish I could be more like you…and… I don
’
t know what tomorrow or the next day holds for us, but I am glad that we have right now.
”

He squeezed her back and smiled. Looking into her eyes, he said,
“
Me too.
”
He leaned over the table, threw his arms around her shoulders, and hugged her tight. It was awkward because he didn
’
t bother standing and the table was jamming into his side, but he didn
’
t care. If his life could remain in this awkward, painful hug for eternity, he would take it. He wouldn
’
t let go of it for anything.

*
*
*
*

Twenty hours until the battle of Ilyeion

Crimson awoke at three a
.
m
.
feeling fidgety. She had a
gut feeling what Max was up to,
but had no idea at the same time. After she left him at the secondary safe house, she decided to go home and try to rest. It was the calm before the storm.

She had already formulated her third and final missive and was dying to send it out, but she had no idea when Legion Nine would make it to Alexarien. This wasn
’
t like her. She had always been cool, calm, solitary. But now, she was worried, hyperactive, and thinking about someone she couldn
’
t get her mind off of… Max.

She knew she was going to have a hard time in twenty hours from now. She would be supporting a battle from thousands of miles away, viewing it all from cameras in the sky. She may even get blinded and be forced to go by global positioning satellites and maps only. She was nervous. She was banking her plans on a lot of things she had never tested.

She wished that there was a way to do a practice run. To try it out and see how it went. Before she had gone into the business of killing people to make a living, she
’
d trained and done simulations with willing partners, but now… There was none of that safety. For the first time since she killed her master that had been abusing her for years, she would have to go out on a limb and try something that she was risking everything for.

She would have to trust that the idea she planted in the masses of oppressed would live and perpetuate. She had to believe that when she sent her final missive, they would respond and be the army of misfits she had hoped for. But no such faith came to her, only anxiety.

She had never wanted anyone close to her. Not since the day she had been sold as a slave anyhow, but now she found herself awake. Lying in bed. Thinking of Max…
a
nd wishing he was there with her.

“
It
’
s only been four hours since I left him…nine more until he
’
s back,
”
she said as she slapped her forehead and remembered something.

Crimson leapt out of bed and sprinted to the lab. She went over to the fabricator and pulled out the vial Max had told her about. She had been so tired when she got back to her place that it had escaped her mind. She promptly injected it into the brachial vein just as Max had told her to.

She felt it course through her veins. It seemed to pulse rhythmically as it invaded her cells. Her whole body tingled. The feeling was odd, but almost pleasurable. Soon, she could feel that her body was generating electricity and that she had full control over it. A couple of hours went by and she began to feel static charges around her. She could absorb them and disperse them even more powerfully by causing the dispersions to form a centrifuge type force.

The result was an arch of spinning electricity that would pick up ambient static to add to its charge. This arch would continue until it came into contact with something that would cause it to disperse.
Like a person,
she thought to herself.

*
*
*
*

Max was typing frantically away into his terminal. He had finished the structure to house the crystalline hard drive and the robotic arms were hard at work crafting it. The hard drive worked off of the principle of shining different colors through a prism. Each color would define a type of memory and since the color spectrum was nearly endless, it was impossible to know how much data could be stored in colors then re-interpreted back through a processor.

The process of recovering the data one wanted was the speed of light. Recent science had discovered that the human brain only processed at the speed of the electrical impulse of the synapses of the brain. In each person, it was different. Augments could be purchased to speed these things up, such as the ones Max
’
s parents had installed in him. But it was still nowhere near the speed of the crystalline hard drive.

Max couldn
’
t be bothered by tasks such as continuing to add the chemical Traxium to the Kelmantrium to allow it to be pliable and worked with. If a person let it cure before he or she was finished shaping the structure, it was all over. It would harden and never become
malleable
again. For this task, he had Luther.

“
Luther, how
’
s the progress coming?
”
he shouted across the lab.

“
It
’
s going fine, Max. Another two hours until it is completed,
”
he said back, loud enough for Max to hear.

“
Okay, great! I hacked into the military database and copied their plans for an exoskeleton. I reworked some of the modeling so that it would fit you. Just follow that blueprint, but use the excess Kelmantrium instead of the titanium that is described in the blueprint. But not now. Wait until I leave. I know you can handle it!
”
Max shouted in excitement.

“
You know, I am feeling more like a slave than a fellow scientist?
”
Luther questioned.

“
I
’
m sorry, Luther… At times, I think maybe I am more of a robot than…never mind, that would be insensitive too.
”

“
Than me? Ha!
”
Luther chuckled at the notion.

“
Good to see you still have a sense of humor,
”
Max said, still typing away, never deviating from his work,
“
because I wouldn
’
t want my lab technician to get upset with me,
”
he finished sarcastically.