A/N: All usual disclaimers! everything BUT Max belongs to me. Max belongs to a friend. A bit graphics.
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Weeks went by since Kara Morgan's rescue. Kara herself survived her OD and recovered enough to become a key witness in Cesare Marconi's traffic. She knew everything and started to cooperate with the Feds in order to stop the new drug's traffic and take it off of the streets. She also worked closely with the FBI to track Cesare and put him away for good. Phoenix recovered as well, quite fast given Max excellent stitching skills. She was quickly able to help Max in many ways like before, including fighting off and wiping out mob circles. Now that she saved a life, she had no qualms about killing again. Max and she worked tirelessly and after months of chasing down Cesare -who was pushed away by the feds- they finally located him. He was hiding in a small motel complex at the border with Mexico. He was planning to cross the border during the night and escape from the FBI.
It was going to be a stand-off, a pure carnage. Max was determined to kill this son of a bitch but he knew that the feds might have been tipped off too and might intervene.
Phoenix found him near the window, a cigar in his mouth as he was trying to smoke his frustration off. She had cleaned her guns and knives but paused in order to talk to him. His blue eyes looked at her, hard, empty and tired. Ever since he began his vendetta against the people who killed his family, Max never really stopped. He kept looking for clues and leads and was burning his whole life on each side of it. She tilted her head to the side and put her hand on his shoulder. He shrugged and wrapped his larger hand around her slender one. His leaned into her touch, his head rubbing softly against her arm. She planted a kiss on top of his head.
« Are you sure about tomorrow? » -He shrugged and shook his head-
« Not really. » -She crouched and looked up to his face. Her hand cupped his cheek and gently stroked it.-
« Talk to me. »
They could still cancel it. Tomorrow didn't need to happen.Max didn't have to die. It was a risk to take, of course, him getting killed in order to avenge his family and him taking so many risks just to have a piece of information about the murder of his family. What if Cesare didn't give it to him? He could very much keep his mouth shut and all of this would have been for nothing. Phoenix was aware of that element and she mentioned it to Max a while ago. He decided to keep going despite knowing there was a risk he didn't get what he wanted but now that it was close, His perspective changed. His worn out blue eyes looked at her and his large hand cupped her soft cheek.
« We might die tomorrow. » It was a declaration, it unphased her and she lifted a brow.
«So? »
« Are you sure you want to die for a cause that isn't yours? » He asked again, his hand still stroking her cheek. She looked away for a brief minute, her eyes staring at the wall and focusing on that wall for a minute. « I know we have already talked about it and I know what you said. »
« Then you know what I am going to say right now. »
She insisted, her hazel eyes now staring at him. Her gaze was cold, piercing like two arrows and it made him swallow hard. She was determined, always had been. She followed him in his crusade against the people who wronged him in order to avenge his family. She followed without many complaints. She followed without a word, to be honest, and it didn't sit well with Max. She had skills, he couldn't deny that, but she could put her skills in service of her community, of the women in distress in Boston like she had tried to do in the last couple of years. Her going with him, following him in this dark endless pit of darkness wasn't what Max wanted for her.
« Phoenix... » She leaned into his touch, eyes half closed as she relished in the rough sensation of his fingers against her cheek. « I don't want you to die for a lost cause. »
« Idiot... » She kissed his wrist and stood up.
Max wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into a hug. The assassin wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and leaned her chin against the top of his head. He leaned into her, feeling her comforting weight against his. He wanted to say something witty about being able to touch her when not so long ago they were sleeping with pillows in between them. She grew close to him enough to allow this kind of intimacy and he grew close enough to accept it from her as well. She glanced past the window, to the compound a little further away from theirs. It was Cesare's and Phoenix was already calculating the outcome of tomorrow. She had studied the place, listed her arsenal and had several potential scenarios in mind about how things could unfold tomorrow. They had one chance out of 20 to come out alive and not apprehended by the FBI. Was it worth the try?
« I feel like I'm repeating myself over and over again.....I know he has a vital piece of information for me. He had a name. I need a name to keep on investigating. »
« I know... »
« I need to confront him tomorrow. I need to crack his skull. I need to kill this son of a bitch... » He repeated, exhaling smoke again.
« I know... » She repeated, her arms wrapped tighter around his shoulder.
« But then there's you. » He said, looking up at her face. She sighed deeply and pulled away from him. Her hands were on each side of her waist and she growled lowly.
« We're not doing this again. Max... I AM A KILLER. That's what I fucking do. I kill people. I'm an assassin.I have been all my fucking life! Let me CHOOSE the reasons I spill blood. Let me choose the way I fucking die. If we do die tomorrow, then so be it! Okay? SO BE IT! I'll get to die to fight for the right cause. »
« You could do BETTER than that! This is not your fight! This isn't your family! This IS NOT YOUR LIFE! » He was trying to push her away for reasons he didn't fully understand. Remorse maybe or maybe it was the fact she had a potential future. Maybe it was the fact he didn't want to have her blood on his hands? Maybe it was the fact... maybe it was the fact...She was pissed off and Max looked at her eyes turn into fire and fury.
« So what? Your family wasn't special! Your family was one of the many families I had decimated. Yeah! Yeah! I went there! » She said, furious against him. Max's eyes grew wide as she spoke, her venom stung harder than if she had stabbed him in the back. « Your wife and kids are just ONE story. One of the many stories I am responsible for. I kill people since I was 5 years old. What else do you want me to say? I remember every kill, every name, every face and every way I ended people lives. It's right there in my fucking mind! I close my eyes and I see the blood, the guts, I hear the screams and the cries... I hear children at night..as old as I was or younger that I killed without remorse because I was told to. Your family is a couple of names I scratched on my ledger. Stop treating them as if they were special. Stop acting as if you were special. »
He couldn't take it anymore and grabbed her neck. Her eyes grew wide as she felt the lack of air. She didn't struggle that much, instead just pushed his chest away from her as if she was encouraging him to strangle her. He used his other hand, grabbing her neck harder, clearly suffocating this woman who insulted him. His eyes were a thin white line as anger took over and he held tight, strangling the assassin who insulted the memory of his family in order to spark a reaction from him. Just like that, he could have snuffed her life and the realization that his words were hypocritical hit him hard. He kept holding her neck, urging her to fight back but she didn't, she let her hands fall on each side of her body and looked at him with a judgemental gaze. See what you're doing ! See how hypocritical of you it was to dare say « I deserved better ». it shocked Max who released her neck and watched her fall onto the ground, coughing as she finally felt a rush of fresh air into her lungs. He nearly killed her and the horror of the moment, coupled with her resignation and determination to die had him leave the motel room to clear his mind. He couldn't come back, not now.. not until his mind was fresh and clear.
-TBC-
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