The news across Alaska broadcasted the death of Frank Palmer, another corrupt cop that killed an innocent man. David huffed, he liked how the police station ran. David knew Frank made the right call killing the man, innocent or not. Who knew what wouldve happened if Frank didnt shoot? But now theyre playing down his death by listing all the wrongdoings he has done as an officer of the law and before that. David hated the media.
Max came downstairs hugging himself rather tightly. He wore an oversized sweater and his flower was not in his hair. He tried to look as small as possible walking past his father, but he couldnt stop the loud footsteps he made whenever he limped. Max didnt catch the worried look Delilah shot at him, or the way she tried to talk to him. She sighed and went back to her cereal.
Max quickly put on his winter coat and went out the door. His phone buzzed in his pocket; he swiftly took it out. On his notification bar was a message from Vincent, thats right. Vincent forced his number into his phone, reasoning that he needed to make sure Max's friend didnt try anything. He asked if Max was ready to go, Max quickly replied yeah and sat on the curb.
Ten minutes later, the Chevy came up around the corner with a girl in the passenger seat. She opened the door and opened the door for the back seat. She had brown skin; long black hair was braided loosely curling around her shoulder. She was wearing a purple crop top with the sleeves detached from the shirt, and a dark purplish-blue skirt that was hanging off her hips at an angle. She had a cross earring and a light purple beanie. What looked like a black body suit hugged her bare skin, protecting her from the harsh weather.
Vincent got out of the driver's seat and made his way to Max. He again picked him up and threw him in the backseat, much to the woman's delight. As she chuckled, Max glared at her; buckling his seat belt. Vincent got back in the driver's seat and turned to Max. "Max, this is my friend Eleanor Sullivan. Ellie, this is Max."
"Wow. I thought Max would be brawnier than this!" Eleanor laughed, lightly pinching Max's bicep. Max glared at her to the best of his ability, the bruises he so desperately tried to hide were still hurting. Eleanor laughed and turned back around, but Vincent stared at Max, his eyes roaming his body. When he finally turned around Max could feel weight falling from his tired shoulders.
"So, Vincent." Max started, crossing his arms, and switching his gaze from Vincent to Eleanor. Vincent started the truck and pulled out on the road. "Who is Ellie to you?" He didn't miss the way Eleanor glared at him.
"First off, she only allows her friends to call her Ellie. Secondly, she's my best friend." Vincent replied, smiling at Eleanor, and resting a hand on her shoulder effectually calming her down. "We met a while back and hit it off the playground."
"Vincent, its hit it out of the park, not that." Eleanor giggled, lightly hitting Vincent's shoulder.
"Ah, sorry. I'm not that good at idioms yet." Vincent laughed, running a hand through his hair. Vincent stole another glance at Max to see him hugging himself, scared of the world. "Ellie, cмотреть." Vincent threw his thumb over his shoulder, pointing it at Max, Eleanor followed his thumb, confusion etched on her face. "Вы видите синяки, которые он пытается скрыть?"
"О, черт, да! Он плохо это скрывает, не так ли?" Ellie said turning back to Vincent, missing the look Max gave them. "Как вы думаете, откуда он их взял?"
"Я не знаю. Но мы должны следить за ним." Vincent said, sneaking glances at the orange-haired boy in his backseat. He saw the orange-haired man glance at him, tilting his head to the side like a puppy. Vincent's mouth turned slightly upwards at the action, finding the action adorable.
-----
Once Max got on campus, he walked in with Eleanor and Vincent. He saw his old friend glare at him, but he just walked away. He didn't need to deal with her bullshit today. Max, Vincent, and Eleanor walked to a quiet hallway, sitting either on or near the window seal. Max sat on the floor, and Vincent and Eleanor sat next to each other on the window seal. Max felt hands on his scalp, he quickly turned around and saw Eleanor treading her hands through his orange hair. Her eyes were sparkling in awe as her fingers caught on tiny knots. "Eleanor, what do you think you're doing?" Max asked, trying to turn around.
"Your hair is so fluffy!" Eleanor sang, she kept her hands in his hair trying to turn his head back to its original position. "I want to braid it!"
"What? No! My hair is too short!" Max yelled fighting to get her dark hands out of her hair. Vincent watched the two fight in slight amusement, he fought back to smile, his Russian traditions coming back to bite at him.
"Ellie, stop." Eleanor and Max both stopped, looking at the bigger male. "If he doesn't want you to braid his hair then respect his wishes and leave him alone." Eleanor pouted, crossing her arms, and curling in on herself. Vincent sighed, "You can braid mine if you want to."
Eleanor immediately perked up, smiling widely. As she scrambled her way to him Vincent took out his low ponytail. Eleanor got situated behind Vincent, was that a hint of dread Max saw? "We've only got about 30 minutes until Vincents and Is class starts; do you think you have time?" Max asked watching as Eleanor sorted his hair into parts.
"Don't underestimate her abilities, Max," Vincent said, looking over at him. "She's a wizard at this kind of stuff."
"Quit moving your head!" Eleanor screeched, lightly smacking his head. Vincent muttered a quick 'ow' before going back on his phone. Max stared at the two for a while, easily catching their attention. "Something entertaining you Max?" Eleanor asked now halfway done with Vincent's hair.
Max grew red, embarrassed that he got caught. "Ah, no. I was just wondering when and how did you guys meet? It seems you have a strong relationship with each other." Vincent and Eleanor looked at each other for a split second, before looking back at Max.
"We've been friends for about 2-3 months by now." Eleanor smiled focusing back on the task at hand. "It's like we were soulmates, but for friends. Are there soulmates for friendly relationships?" Eleanor asked, chuckling slightly at her joke. Max noticed Eleanor was braiding his hair loosely, no wonder it wasn't taking that long.
Vincent shrugged, probably answering Eleanor's question. "As for how we met, that'll be a story for a different time," Max whined, why were they hiding things from him? He wants to be a part of their friendship!
So, like an annoying little toddler, Max asked, "Why?"
"Because it's personal and rather dark. You seem too innocent to know." Vincent replied, Eleanor and Vincent both seemed unnerved talking about it; so, Max let it go.
----
What kind of drugs is Max's Economic professor taking? A partner project? Really? And he was partnered with Vincent?! This sounds like one of the sappy high school romantic clichés. Max sighed and looked over to Vincent at the other end of the room. He was staring at Max with a knowing look in his eyes. God, Max thought, this is going to be a long month.
----
When the class was dismissed, Max started packing up his things. Ignoring everyone who whispered behind his back, he didn't want to hear what they had to say. He didn't care anymore. They made sure he couldn't feel anything anymore.
"Привет, Max." Max looked up, Vincent stood there staring down at him. In Max's peripheral vision he saw most of the women throw him dirty looks or stared at Vincent with that romantic longing look in their eyes. "You want to start the project after school today?"
Max smiled softly and nodded. God, he has it bad for him. Max tried to pay attention, but he couldn't help but look over when Vincent was undoing the braid Eleanor gave him, then putting it back into his low ponytail. But he never wants to become one of those anime stereotypes who bully the main character and then end up falling in love with them. Like that'll ever happen in real life, Max thought.
----
Max was sitting in the backseat again with Eleanor and Vincent in the front. Eleanor was lightly hitting Vincent's arm for taking out the braid she did earlier. Max tried to pay attention but was plagued by thoughts of his home life. His dad would get even angrier if he brought home his crush, he couldn't risk that.
"Max, where do you want to start working? My house or yours?" Vincent looked back at him through the rearview mirror, his dark green eyes instantly searching his face before going back to the road in front of him.
"Let's go to yours." Max whispered, "I should tell my mom, just so she wouldn't worry." He took his phone out of his pocket and started to type out a message.
"Tell her you'll be staying for dinner. You're our guest, we want to make a good impression." Max stared at him for a second before smiling and looking down at his phone. He finished the message and looked back up; Max was smiling widely. The more time away from his father the better. "Ellie, can you give him a run down on Russian hospitality?"
"Alright! First off, expect to eat a lot! So, you must be hungry because only the appetizers will be light. Well, sort of. Second, take your shoes off at the door. Usually, you'd bring a gift, but Ivan and Alina wouldn't mind. They'd normally serve alcohol with dinner, but you're probably underage..." Eleanor talked quickly, turning around in her seat.
"Yeah, I'm only 20." Max sighed; he honestly couldn't wait for his birthday. Maybe he could drink his problems away.
"Thats fine. Eleanor, can you tell my parents about him?" Vincent asked Eleanor, handing her his phone. Eleanor smiled and took the phone, humming softly. Vincent smiled softly at Eleanor, and suddenly stopped when he realized something. "By the way Max, Russians don't normally smile at strangers. We keep it for friends and family only."
Oh, that makes a lot more sense.
About an hour or so later Max watched as Vincent pulled up to a rather large and scary house. It was black and looked like those orphanages in scary movies. Not to mention it was in the middle of nowhere. If he gets kidnapped, then that'll be on him.
----
*Click*
The camera shuttered. The black Nikon 7500 was pointed to a window with green curtains. A boy was inside changing in front of the window, in full view of the camera. He had curly orange hair, freckles, and light brown eyes. The photographer smiled, her gloved hands switching through the photos she had already taken of him far away. A quiet beeping came from her left ear, she adjusted herself on the branch she was sitting on to properly talk to whoever was calling her.
"This is Agent S963, state your business." Her face was tucked in darkness, only lighting up from the camera screen that is now sitting on her lap. She leaned against the tree trunk as she relaxed. She worked her ass off trying to find as much as she could about this boy, and she finally felt she has gotten enough.
"Hey sweetie, I want to know if you are ready to come home now. Its almost midnight and it's -22° C outside!" A sweet but harsh voice came through the earbud, dismissing any argument on when she should come home.
"I'll be on my way ma'am. Since I'll probably pass out as soon as I make it home can you tell Omen about the info I got?" She silently turned off her camera and put it back in its casing just as the boy went and closed his blinds. She quickly climbed down the tree and to the grass below. After a confirmative hum, she continued.
"I may have a neophyte we can recruit. His name is Maxwell Smiths, he lives with a narcissistic father, an amaurotic mother, and an egocentric little sister. He is adroit in IT and could be educated in generic hacking."
"How can we convince him to join? And where will we be able to communicate with him without it looking apprehensive?"
"He has a history of bullying, and by the way his father acts, it could be abusive. As for the correct scene, he has applied to the University of Fairbanks recently. Maybe we could convince E524 to apply."
----
"Omen." The sweet voice from before was harsher now. The boy in question was standing in front of the circular window in the attic, he had his back to her; basking in the light the moon reflected.
"Алина, лучше бы это было важно для нашей миссии." He didn't turn to her, he barely acknowledged her in the slightest.
"We may have a new recruit."
----
Max stood in the foyer, Vincent by his left and Eleanor by his right. And in front of him were the most intimidating parents he has ever seen. On the right was a small lady around 55 years old, she had brown hair and blue eyes that held a sort of motherly kindness but also a malignant scowl that could put you in the hospital. She looked dangerous in general, under her light blue dress, Max could see her sculpted muscles bulging from the thin fabric. She had visible crow's feet and smile lines; she must smile a lot to her family.
Now the male on the left looked a lot like Vincent, the only notable difference is their height, Vincent towered over the man by about a few inches, everything else was about the same. He had slicked-back black hair with bangs covering most of his left eye, and purple highlights added to his complexion. He wore business casual clothes and it looked like he had a couple of scars. And- JESUS CHRIST! Is everyone in this family ripped?!
"Mama, Papa. This is Max, Max these are my parents; Alina and Ivan." Vincent did the introductions for them, as Max and his parents were studying each other. Max sheepishly waved, his face getting redder the longer he stood there.
"Добрый день, Max! Its a felicity to finally congregate!" Alinas Russian accent was thicker than Vincent's and it was quite challenging to decipher.
"Its nice to meet you too." Max hoped that is what she meant, another thing that he noticed was that Vincent's family used smarter words a lot. "Vincent, shall we get started on our project?"
"Yeah, here use the guest slippers. We'll be up in my room."
They walked down the hallway after Max switched his tennis shoes for the aforementioned guest slippers. Max noticed Alina walk off towards what he assumed to be the kitchen off to the left of the house and Ivan going the opposite way, to a living room.
It was a short walk to get into another living room of sorts, but this one had a shelf of board games and a bookshelf next to it. Between the two shelves was a banner, but Max didn't get a good look at it as he followed Vincent up the stairs.
It was a few feet from the stairs, Vincent opened the door for Max. Max smiled at Vincent before looking into the room, it was bare, his full-sized bed clads in a black and grey comforter. There was a gray rug on the floor in front of him and across the floor was a cage with a red fox inside it.
"Ah, I forgot about Nikolai." Vincent came up behind Max after closing the door and walked up to the cage. "You're not allergic, are you?"
"No, where'd you get it anyways?" Max came up behind Vincent as he opened the cage door. Nikolai stood up and started walking out of the cage, that's when Max noticed the cast on Nikolai's back leg.
"I just noticed him at the edge of our property. He was hurt and it was freezing outside. I just wanted to help him." Vincent picked Nikolai up and then stood up himself. He walked over to the rug and sat down on it.
"So, you're not keeping him?" Max asked following Vincents every step.
"Why would I? He's a wild animal, he belongs in the wild with his own family." Max widened his eyes. That is true, he thought. Turns out Vincent was more of a softy than he previously thought.
-----
Vincent and Max have been brainstorming ideas of how their project would look like, and sites and such. They'd been working for half an hour by now and Max started to lose interest. "Hey, Vincent? Do you think we can take a break?" Max looked up after a few seconds of silence. "Vincent?"
He looked out of it, like in deep thought. Max was sort of concerned, he reached a hand out and put it on Vincents shoulder. Suddenly he snapped out of it and slapped Maxs hand away.
Max writhed back holding his now red hand. "Ow! The hell was that for?" Max whined, looking back up at Vincent.
"Sorry, I don't like to be touched." Max raised an eyebrow; Vincent's Russian accent was almost gone. What was with the sudden change? "Who are you again?"
"I'm Max. Are you one of Vincent's different personalities or whatever you call them?" Max asked, no longer worried about his throbbing hand.
"Yeah, my name is Alexei. Ugh, Vincent wears too many accessories. What are we doing anyways?" Alexei looked back down at their work, but he seemed to be distracted by his clothes.
Max noticed and smiled. "You know, if the clothes are bothering you, you can go change. I wouldn't mind."
Alexei looked up and Max could see a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "Are you sure? You and Vincent seemed pretty into whatever you're doing."
"It's okay, I needed a break anyways." Max leaned back on the bed. Nikolai limped over to Max and cuddled in between Max's legs. Max smiled and started to pet the red fox as Alexei went to grab some clothes.
"Hey, Max?" Max looked up, to see Alexei looking at him. "Thanks, this actually helps a lot. If you have any questions about us, I can help. The others are not so open about it..." Alexei scratches the edge of his mouth as he looked to the side.
"Oh! Thank you so much! I might just have to start making notes about you guys!" Max joked. Alexei chuckled and walked out the door. Well, it was almost a laugh, Max thought. Alexei seems like the more emotionally available one.
Max took out his phone and opened his notes app. Careful to not irritate the wounded animal in his lap, Max started to get more comfortable, stretching his legs out. Max started typing on his phone, typing what he knew about Vincent at the present. Turns out, he didn't really know anything about Vincent. He was just sitting there trying to think about what he knew, by the time he thinks he got something Alexei walked back in.
Alexei was wearing a red tank top and black basketball shorts. Max noticed a tattoo on Alexei's right shoulder but couldn't decipher what it was. Alexei smirked and sat down in front of Max again. "So, do you want to get back to work, or do you want to know about the other alters?"
Max chuckled, seems like Alexei is good at reading people. "Let's do alters first, then if we have time, we can finish brainstorming."
"Alright. So, Vincents the host, he's our body's age and he uses he/him pronouns. Uhm, there's Dimitri our Co-Host, they use he/they pronouns. Me, I use she/they pronouns. Uhm, Aster I think their name is, they're our little so they're around 7, but I'm not that sure. I think there's two more but that's just what I heard from Alina, sorry." Alexei finished; they scratched the back of their neck seemingly nervous.
"It's okay. I'm glad you could say what you could." Max smiled.
"Shall we get back to what you and Vincent were doing?" Alexei asked, looking back down at their work. Max smiled and nodded.
-----
Max and Alexei have been working on the assignment for another hour or so when there was a knock at the door. Alexei yelled through the door, "Заходи!" Max felt sort of uncomfortable in the room with all the Russian being thrown about.
"Hey Alexei, Max! Dinners ready!" Eleanor smiled, pointing finger guns at Alexei. "So, you might want to get dress pants on girly!"
"Wait, how do you know Alexei is fronting? Is that how you say it? Fronting?" Max mumbled the last bit, scratching the back of his head.
"Max, I've been friends with the Popov's for a while. I know how each alter dresses and acts. Just get your hands washed and come downstairs." Eleanor sighed and made her way to turn around but stopped midstep putting on a look of pure terror. Alexei noticed and sighed heavily, getting up she reached under the bed.
"You need new underwear too?" She asked pulling out a box of tampons, she got back up and walked up to Eleanor. Eleanor shrugged, looking at the box like it was the holy light.
"We'll see. Can I use your bathroom?" Eleanor asked, taking the box in her hands.
"Go ahead, sweetie." Alexei winked and threw her thumb over her shoulder.
Eleanor rushed a quick thank you as she ran into the bathroom. Alexei looked at Max and gestured for him to go out. "Why don't you go wait downstairs? We'll be down soon."
Max nodded and got up, maybe he could get a better look around that room and more importantly, that banner. Max went downstairs, stopping at the bottom and looking in the room.
"Maxwell. You should wash up before dinner." Max jumped at the new voice. Ivan was beside him looking at him dangerously.
"Y-Yeah. Sorry, sir. Do you mind showing me the bathroom?" Max asked. Ivan nodded and stepped to the side, gesturing for Max to go first. Max smiled and walked out of the room.
"It's over on your right. The last door before the dining room." Max thanked him before quickly walking to the bathroom. Once he got in, he quickly closed the door, panicking.
How did he know his full name? Vincent only said his nickname! Did his parents work for the police? Unlikely, judging by their house placement they wanted to be isolated. Are they criminals?
Max gulped; hell find out soon enough. Maybe he will be able to do some research on them poking around the house. Max breathed in and out calming himself down. He walked up to the sink and washed his hands.
Drying his hands, Max tried to calm himself again. He got out and right in front of the door was Ivan again. He was standing in the dark, the only light coming from the foyer and the dining room. The shadows on his face were sharp, making him look more menacing than before. What made Max's blood run cold was the fact that Ivan was smiling, his left eye showing; three long scars passed over his eye and it almost seemed as if it was glowing.
Ivan turned halfway around, extending his arm out to the dining room doorway. Max nodded nervously and walked past Ivan, Ivan following Max a little too close for Max's comfort. The dining room was even more terrifying, with a single light hanging above the middle of the table and everybody sitting there waiting for him.
Ivan patted his shoulder, lifting his arm he pointed to the chair between Eleanor and Alexei. Max gulped again, the steps he took seemingly sinking into the floor. He didn't like the atmosphere, he really really didn't. It felt like a horror movie when a teenager was about to be killed.
Max sat down, looking out at the table in front of him he felt his worries go away. Food on food was spread out on the table and it looked gourmet. There were plates of what looked like dumplings, salads, and kabobs all with a little Russian touch to them. On the sides, there was tea and water.
Eleanor giggled, as she shook Maxs shoulder. "Looks delicious huh?"
Max nodded and laughed. "And here I thought Ivan was leading me to my death! I thought you guys were evil!"
"Well, some people will see us like that." Alexei muttered, "By the way Max, does your family say grace or anything like that?"
"No, we usually just say it inside our head. Mostly because Dads never home in time for dinner." Max whispered the last sentence, slumping down slightly. Straightening up Max looked at Alina. "I've noticed this is a rather big house for the four of you."
"Oh, that's because we have a lot of guests that stay the night when they're too drunk to go home," Alina said sweetly. Max could've sworn she would be smiling if it weren't for her Russian traditions.
"By the way Alexei. What were you going to say?" Max asked, looking to Alexei as Alina started to dish out the food. Max continued to speak after seeing Alexei's incomprehension, "When you said some people find you evil?"
"Oh, you don't know? It's because we're part of the Ma- OW! You're still wearing heels!" Alexei yelped, clutching their shin. They were looking at Alina who looked terrifying; her face hiding in the shadows. In fact, when Max looked around everybodys face was darkened.
"Он не знает о нашей пагубной оккупации. Нам нужно больше времени, прежде чем мы наймем его." Alina whispered, glaring daggers at Alexei. Alexei stilled, gulping down nothing. Max watched the encounter, trying to pinpoint any words he could understand, but he knew he couldn't. He doesn't even know the smallest of sentences.
"Мы знаем, что вы нас понимаете, Алексей. Не говори ничего о нашей работе, иначе Омен убьет тебя, а потом нас!" Eleanor jumped in, looking both petrified and frightened. Alexei straightened back up and looked down at the table.
"Yes ma'am. Sorry, ma'am."
Max still looked bewildered as everyone acted like nothing happened. "Guys, what the what was that all about?!"
"Just forget it, Max. Mama can we eat now?" Max's heart was racing again. Were they hiding something bad from them? Yeah, they definitely are. Max doesn't feel safe anymore. Just fake it til you make it Max.