Discovery
[March 2001]
Fandom: Dark Angel
Title: Discovery
PenName:
Character(s): Empress Vader
Paring(s): Original Cindy/Jondy
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Cindy and Max’s friendship is thrown for a loop when Jondy comes to Seattle.
Notes:
Warning(s): Femslash
Disclaimer: This story is a fanwork based on characters featured on the TV series Dark Angel. A television series created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee.
Prologue: Friends by Max
I walk into the Club with Original Cindy. I needed the break, I needed to dance with Cindy at this strange place and distance myself from my life. I just got finish taking down three smelly gangsters for Logan’s crusade of the day. He thanked me as usual, but I don’t care about him right now, I want to forget about guys all together tonight. Sometimes I wish I was a lesbian, things would be so much easier. Not because dating guys is any less of a headache than dating girls (I learned from Cindy that ain’t true), but because then I wouldn’t have to choose between Zack and Logan, I wouldn’t have to think about Zack and Logan — I wouldn’t have to worry about the conflict I feel when I think about Zack, thinking he’s my brother and knowing he wants more than that. And Logan, what the hell does he want? Some days it’s all business, other days it seems like he wants more? And I want more too. But I ain’t puttin’ my heart out there for him to stomp on. I learned to step lightly with Logan the moment he switched from what seemed like a seduction to talking about Barcodes. Doesn’t he know I want to forget that barcode exist?
If I was into girls, I could tell them both to go fuck themselves and be with Cindy. Original Cindy’s my girl, my homie, my Ace, she’s always been in my corner and never asked for more than I felt like giving. I love her already, not in an intimate way, but in a way that reminds me of Jondy. We were always best friends. I hadn’t known the words then, nor had I used them, but like Cindy, Jondy and I just clicked. There was no rhyme or reason to it, it just was. In Manticore, Zack wasn’t really my friend, I understood him and he understood me in that universal way that we X5s all understood each other. He was my brother, our protector, and I loved him, but we weren’t really friends, not the way Jondy and I were friends.
I love Zack with all of my heart, because he’s my brother. But I hate him for making me have to even think of him wanting me any other way. No matter how much I understand the facts of our biology, he’s my brother in my mind and my heart. And Logan, I want to give him my all, but he pushes me away. So much chemistry between us. . .I hate him for not acknowledging it, I hate him for not letting me walk away from “Eyes Only” before I got involved — before I became his friend — before I shared my blood with him. I hate him for being the reason I couldn’t join Zack and Tinga, I could have the contact number if only I could leave him. I hate Logan for being the man that I love.
But I’m not with Logan tonight and Zack’s as far away as he’s ever been, but Cindy’s here. My girl, my homie, my Ace. Not demanding anything from me and everything’s cool.
******************************
Part I: Sisters
She watched from a distance. Watched as Max and her friend rolled into the office’s parking lot and walked up to the door carrying a package. She wondered if Max would recognize her, 10 years was a long time. When Tinga told her how Zack had kept Max out of the loop, she had to come to Seattle, she had to see Max. Screw Zack and his contact number, especially since he had lied to her — he said he would tell her where Max was when it was safe and pretended she was down with his system. He wasn’t their daddy, he couldn’t rule their lives forever. Tinga had told her not to go to Max, that it was dangerous, that Zack was right to an extent, Lydecker would eventually notice Seattle was becoming a high traffic area for the X5s and the best way to keep Max safe was to hope a single X-5 could be lost in the shuffle. But she didn’t care, she wanted to know Max was safe, not hope she was safe. And if Zack didn’t agree, screw him.
How would she make her introduction? Walk up to Max and say “Hi, I’m Jondy. Check out my barcode.” That would be completely stupid. Could she just walk past and Max would notice her. She knew Max right away, Max had to know her as easily, that’s just the way it was with them. She’d seen Max and this same girl just a week ago at a club. Max lived with this same girl and worked with her. Who was this brown beauty that Max was down with? Was it her girlfriend? Tinga had said there was some guy keeping Max in Seattle, not a girl. She’d seen Max with some fool in a wheelchair, but that couldn’t be him, could it?
Jondy decided to test Max. See if those old instincts were still there. Jondy walked slowly up to Max and purposely ran bumped her shoulder, causing her to drop the package she carried. She pretended it was an accident and quickly turned to say “sorry”. Max looked like she was about to voice her anger at being bumped into, but their eyes met and she knew Jondy. Time seem suspended between them. As they stared at each other, Jondy heard in the background, “You aiight, boo.”
“Yeah, fine,” Max said smiling knowingly at Jondy.
“See you later,” Jondy said to Max after handing her the package she dropped.
“See you,” Max said with a understanding smile.
*****************************
Max stared after the girl. It couldn’t be, but it was. It was Jondy, her sister Jondy. Cindy looked between Max and the departing girl, confused, but Max didn’t feel inclined to answer her question.
“Max, you know her?”
“In another life,” Max said with a smile.
She went to deliver the package, but her mind kept traveling back to Jondy. She saw the wide-eyed girl sitting above the ice, calling her name. Max, herself, unable to move. She remembered Jondy being forced to run away. Cindy was talking about something, but Max never heard her, her mind was on Jondy, her sister, her best friend.
***********************
Night couldn’t come fast enough, Cindy went to sleep and Max went on a midnight run, blazing through the streets like lightning. She was hoping to run into Jondy. Surely Jondy had a bike like hers, surely Jondy was riding through the darkness as she was, unable to find sleep. Jondy, she couldn’t believe Jondy was here. But maybe she was playing herself. Why would Jondy be here?
A bike pulled up beside her. It was Jondy. She revved up her bike in challenge. Max accepted it and they raced. Raced in a way totally different from she and Zack when his identity was a mystery, when he had been testing her and taunting her all at once. No, She and Jondy raced because it had been a long time since they’d played together and they wanted to pretend they could play together forever.
********************************
They hadn’t said a word to each other since they’d met on the street. And somehow they’d ended up here in Max’s special place on the space needle. Max had longed to share this place with someone and now Jondy was here. That sat in utter silence, looking out at the world below.
“I heard what you did for Zack,” Jondy said
“It was no more than any of us would have done.”
“I don’t know,” Jondy replied. “It’s Manticore. I can’t even imagine–”
“It’s Zack,” said Max.
Max didn’t have to say anymore. Jondy understood. Zack had fought for them to leave Manticore had given them life and no matter what he did, everything they were in the here and now was due to him. He’d taken them from slavery and given them freedom. It was refreshing for her not to have to explain that. Jondy just to knew, to understand how hard it was to be mad at Zack. To understand why nothing was to much to do for him. Nothing, except leaving Seattle.
“You know,” Jondy said. “The city is polluted and falling apart, but the world’s never looked more beautiful.”
Max knew exactly what she meant. She had never felt so at peace with the world. Was that dangerous. She wanted to ask Jondy so many questions about her life after Manticore, but she was to happy just sitting here, being beside her, in the silence of the night. So many times she had sat on this space needle imagining possible fates for her siblings. But never had she imagined she’d be here, sitting beside her sister.
*******************************
Cindy was worried. Even when Max was kickin’ it at Logan’s place, she usually came home before the sun came out. She was there in the morning cleaning off the grime of whatever fool she’d just taken down. Or dealing with the fact that she’d just spent another afternoon with Logan and nothing had happened between them.
But she wasn’t with Logan or doing something for Logan, because Logan had called and asked if Cindy had seen her. Cindy had assumed Max was with him, but the two of them let it go. Max was always a free spirit.
Then “she” came in. Not Max, though Max was with her. She was about Max’s size and had these strikingly beautiful eyes. Her features were smaller, her hair lighter, but she looked like she had been born in the same lab as Max, so she wasn’t too surprised when Max introduced her as her sister Jondy.
Cindy told her Logan had called, but she didn’t seem to care. And for once it didn’t seem like a front. Still, Cindy felt something wasn’t right. Max seemed too giddy and relaxed. Even when she was chillin’, she never let her guard down. But at this moment, the world didn’t seem to go beyond her sister. And Original Cindy didn’t like it or the smile Jondy passed her way as they shook hands.
“If you want, you can stay here while I’m at work,” Max told her sister then she grabbed her bike and she headed out the door as Jondy made herself comfortable.
“Can we trust her?” Cindy asked outside the door. “All my stuff’s in there.”
“She’s my sister,” Max said.
“Exactly, your sister, not mine,” Cindy told her as they mounted their bikes and went to work.
******************************
The name Jondy was worn out, at least to Cindy’s ears before the day was out. Every time she started to say something to Max, all she got was “Jondy” this or “Jondy” that. And at lunch, the chick walked in like she owned the place and all the guys acted like they’d never seen a beautiful woman before. She watched Jondy walk up to Normal, pretending not to notice all the attention her fine ass was gettin‘.
“I’m here to see my sister Max,” Jondy said to Normal.
Max walked up to her, still grinning like she had when she’d bought Jondy home.
“Sister?” Normal questioned.
The same question was reflected in Herbal and Sketchy’s eyes.
“Yeah, I come from a huge family,” Max said walking up to her. The sisters hugged.
“So, Max’s sister,” Sketchy said. “Have you been properly introduced to Seattle nightlife. Because you know I
could—”
“Sorry sweetie, I don’t mess with my sisters friends,” Jondy told him.
“Let’s go get something to eat,” Max said placing a friendly arm around her sister. “You coming Cindy?” Max asked.
Original Cindy joined them, but it was like she wasn’t even there.
***************************
Max hadn’t been able to forget about Logan in awhile. But she actually had forgotten he hadn’t met Jondy yet, she had forgotten he’d called and she hadn’t called him back, she forgot about “Eyes Only” all together. She and Jondy had headed out for the night when she got the page from Logan. When she called him back, she thought about telling him about her sister, but changed her mind. Surprise seemed much better.
They went to Logan’s place and Bling answered the door. She was glad, it gave her more time to plan the element of surprise. She told Bling to be quiet as she headed into Logan’s “lab”. As usual, his eyes were glued to his little computer screen, so he hadn’t seen that two young women had entered.
“I thought you had fallen off the face of the-,” Logan began as he turned around. When he saw the second woman he stopped for a few moments then finished his sentence. “Earth.”
Max and Jondy looked at each other, pleased as they stood like twin Venus’ in the doorway.
“Let me guess,” Logan said. “Another Manticore.”
“I guess he sees the family resemblance,” Max said to her sister.
“I’m Jondy,” Jondy said presenting her hand, “I’ll be Max’s partner in crime tonight.”
“Actually,” Logan replied. “Eyes Only is in the business of preventing crimes.”
“Whatever,” Jondy shrugged in a style so reminiscent of Max it was like watching to a clone. “If Max is there, I’m there.”
“Can I talk to Max alone for a moment?” Logan asked.
“Sure.” Jondy left the room.
Logan watched her go, before he turned to Max. Max seemed quite pleased with herself.
“So what do you think of my sister. I know you only have Zack and five seconds with Tinga to make a com–”
“Max,” Logan interrupted. “What is she doing here?”
“She’s helping me.”
“Since when do you need anyone?” Logan questioned.
“Since I left her behind or she left me behind, Whatever. These last two days have been amazing Logan. It’s everything I ever wanted. Zack just turned my world upside down, made me think maybe all those ideas I had about family were wrong. And then I saw Jondy and she saw me and the world was suddenly perfect. And nothing mattered, because everything was so right.”
“Max, you know what they say. If it sounds to good to be true.”
“Screw what they say. You wanted a Manticore soldier, now you have two. Why are you complaining? Nobody gets me like her Logan. She understands me, she knows me.”
“She knew you and you knew her, 10 years ago — past tense.”
“Nobody knows me like her Logan, not even —”
“Me?” Logan asked.
“Actually, she was going to say not even Zack,” Jondy said as she entered the room.
Logan had only to look at Max to know this was true.
“It’s a Manticore thing Logan,” Jondy said walking up to her sister. “Don’t be offended.” Jondy turned toward Max. “Robin, I don’t think you were suppose to let me in the batcave.”
Logan didn’t like this girl. Ever since Max had threatened to kick his ass over Zack, he’d learned to tread lightly on the Manticore family grounds. Max got highly offended when he took the wrong steps in that area of her life. He had absolutely no reason to distrust Max’s sister, but he had no reason to trust her either. So it bothered him that she’d just disclosed “Eyes Only” to someone who was a relative stranger to him. And the fact that she ignored his existence for almost 48 hours also bothered him. In a way, he hoped finding her siblings would be a long involved process and he was secretly glad Zack had been demanding enough to make her pull away, but Jondy was everything she wanted to find. And therefore, the perfect excuse to leave “Eyes Only”.
But Max was right. Two heads were always better than one, so he gave Max the information she needed and Max left with Jondy without even a parting glance his way.
*************************
Cindy watched as Jondy take over Max’s life and she was unable to say anything. Jondy got a job doing deliveries for a take-out place and every minute they had, Max and Jondy were together. Max parted company with Cindy after work and didn’t come back until the morning when it was time to go to work. When Max did a job for Logan, Jondy was there. When Cindy got up in the morning, Jondy was there. Wherever Max was, Jondy was there. Even when she wasn’t there, she was there, because Max could hardly utter a sentence without saying Jondy. Max had always been a private person, but now she couldn’t move, breath , think, without Jondy.
No matter how hot the chick was, Cindy was sick of seeing her face. She didn’t feel like she knew Max anymore. for a whole month now, it seemed like Max’s world didn’t go beyond Jondy and it bothered her. It seemed that Logan felt the same way. When he called, he wasn’t surprised to hear Max was out with Jondy.
So she met Logan for coffee. He was silent and she was silent for a long time. Logan finally broke the ice.
“I shouldn’t be complaining,” Logan said Max does everything I request and with Jondy she does it faster than she every could alone, but—”
“But it’s like she ain’t Max no more.”
“I’m worried about her,” Logan said. “She’s just not paying attention. Lydecker could walk up on the both of them and she wouldn’t notice until it was to late.”
“But Max doesn’t want to hear it,” Cindy said.
“I don’t want to say it,” Logan replied. “I’ll just about be saying, Zack was right.”
“And the last person you want to agree with is big brother.” Cindy sighed and leaned back. “That’s one relationship I don’t get. Max is that independent type and Zack is macho cave man, from what I can tell.”
“It’s that X5 thing. I don’t think we ever will get it.” Logan sighed and leaned back. “At least I can count on him to leave town once the ‘missions’ over.”
Original Cindy didn’t think it was fair to call it an X5 thing, it was a family thing. Even adopted kids and there parents didn’t really know what they were getting into, but they loved each other just the same. She figured it was the same way with Max’s crew. In a way, they were born into the same family, so all the emotional attachments you’d expect were there.
“Speakin’ of Max’s fam,” Cindy began. “Original Cindy wasn’t sure at first, but there’s something about the way Jondy looks at Max when she thinks Max ain’t lookin’. I think sister girl wants the same thing big brother wanted.”
“You don’t mean?” Logan began. Cindy shook her head in confirmation.
“If it was anyone else, Original Cindy would state quite clearly ‘the bitch didn’t have a chance’, but this Jondy chick, she’s got Max thinkin’ different.”
Logan couldn’t think of anything to say. He started rewinding the events since Jondy’s arrival in his mind, but all he could see was two giggling girls. It was like Max had gone back to being nine years old and was trying to relive every moment of lost childhood. He didn’t know Jondy well enough to gauge her behavior. Did she want Max “that” way? And if so, what would Max do?
*******************************
It was odd getting everything you ever wanted. Max had spent a million nights just sitting on this space needle wondering about her family, wishing for her sisters and brothers. Even after Zack had just about told her it wasn’t going to happen, even after her world seemed to die when he left her alone. She had wrapped herself in what she had, her friends, her day job, her night job with Logan. But before her moments on the space needle had just been lonely, now the night was at peace. She had never known life could be so peaceful.
She and her sister sat on together sharing the events of the night before. Most of the time, working for Logan was well, work. With Jondy it was completely different. It was a game, like so many escape and evade exercises at Manticore. And those were about the only classes that were fun. It was quite easy for them to get in and out of a place without being seen, but the cat in them sometimes like to play game. So when they’d invaded the warehouse last night for Logan, Max had passed the doorway slow enough for the night guard to notice, yet quick enough for him to question if he’d actually seen anything. When he came searching with his gun drawn, Jondy had tapped him from behind. He’d turned, surprised, and lost his weapon before he knew what happened. And Jondy was gone before he had a chance to react. And then they’d really had fun, running from place to place, making noise only when the chose to, driving the man crazy. He looked left and right, but the sound he was chasing always alluded him. When they got bored, they left him unconscious on the floor, knowing he would wake up wondering what he saw and if he saw it.
But now it was just quiet. The world was at peace and she had everything she ever wanted. Suddenly, like Jondy had said before, the broken world before them seemed perfect.
“Did you really stay here for Logan,” Jondy asked.
“I stayed for a lot of reasons. Logan, Cindy, even my piece of shit job. It was like Zack wanted me to give everything up and not give anything back,” Max sighed. “When he said I could have the contact number, if only I would leave Seattle, I thought about it. But then I thought what it would mean. It would mean I could contact him, that he would control my life. I just couldn’t,” Max shrugged. “I love Zack as much as I always did, but–”
“I understand,” Jondy said.
That’s what she loved the most about her life now. Not everything had to put into inefficient words any longer. Jondy just knew. Jondy reached out and gently caressed Max’s face.
“I’m so happy to be with you again.”
“Me too,” Max replied.
And then the unexpected happen and Max’s perfect world shattered. Jondy kissed her. Not a soft peck on the cheek, not a quick sisterly kiss, an open mouth kiss, with tongue and all. And when it was over, Max could only sit there in utter shock. She hadn’t expected this, it had come from nowhere. She felt confused, she felt frustrated, she felt betrayed
“I’m sorry,” Jondy said.
“You should be,” Max shouted at her. “You have the nerve to talk about Zack. At least he’s honest. You came here and pretend to want the same things I want.”
“I thought maybe–”
“Your my sister,” Max yelled. “Even if I–”
Max was to confused to say any more. She just left Jondy, left the space needle, and the place that had once been her temple suddenly seemed corrupted.
{end part 1}
