Max looked around and surveyed everything she could see. She would need a way in that was quiet and quick. On this side the home had lights on the porch, so she would have a hard time getting in. But she slowly circled around to the other side, taking care to stay hidden in the underbrush along the way, so she could fully scope out the place before planning on how to get in.
On the back of the house Max lucked out and found a stealthy way in. There was a pickup truck parked close to the house and the lights on this side where being blocked by it. She could climb up on the pickup and reach the roof over the porch and from there get inside the house through a window.
Quickly making up her mind, Max sprinted across the ground, taking care to stay in the shadows. When she reached the pickup she scrambled on top of it and stepped across to the roof. From there she squatted down and awkwardly squat-walked across the roof to a nearby window. She looked inside and found that the room appeared to be deserted. After getting a thorough look she tried the window but found it was locked.
She blew out a silent, frustrated breath and moved to the next. Methodically, she tried 3 more windows and found they were all locked. The 5th window though was unlocked, allowing Max to sneak into the unoccupied room. She opened the door on the other side and found the hallway to be empty but well lit. Cursing her luck she gingerly stuck her head out into it but prepared herself to run as fast as possible if she needed to.
She found no one in the hallway though and decided to step out into it. She stood still but kept the door opened in case she needed a fast out. She looked around but found no one and no opened doors. To her right she saw a stairway and heard some voices coming from below. She quietly moved over to the stairs, with the floor thankfully not even making any noise as she moved.
She carefully moved down the stairs, squatting down as she went to get a better view from below. Though it was unnecessary as their were walls on both sides. At the bottom there was a small landing that split both left and right and went down a further 2 steps before flattening out into the floor. She listened carefully and heard the voices coming from the left.
Max scooted up against the right wall and moved further down. As she did she looked towards the room the voices were coming from. Once she arrived on the final step before the landing, she noticed the room was actually a hallway. And at the end were 3 men talking to each other. Max moved back a bit and used her hearing to pick up on the conversation.
"Now gentlemen, I know my proposal may sound a little forward but..." said one man, who sounded very intelligent.
"Now listen here yank, forward is when you talk to a girl. Crazy is what you're proposing!" another interrupted, with a very distinct redneck accent.
"Well, it may sound crazy, but it should work. And if not, I have the money to ensure that we can find another way out." the first man said.
"Listen here Danny-boy," the third one began. He had a voice that sounded like a mix between the first 2 Max had heard, sounding very intelligent but with a distinct redneck inflection. "I want assurances that we won't need your backup. Because if we do I'll make sure you don't get your own help."
"I told you, you are only allowed to call me Mr. Penale." the first man said. Max froze at the name. Daniel Penale was the name of the man from earlier. The one the police in Raleigh had failed to catch. If this was him then she was in luck. But she still felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up at the name. It made her nervous to be confronting him for some reason.
"Listen here Danny-boy," the third man said again. "I don't like your tone. You come in here with a plan to get us out of the eyes of the police so that we can run our growin operation in peace and quiet. But it involves leading them right to our doorstep. You think we're just gonna take a plan like that and run with it?"
"No I don't Mr. Warren. I can make assurances that it will work. I've been looking to expand my empire after I got chased out of Raleigh because that bitch blabbed about me. Thankfully she was just a whore and she never saw the full extent of my operation." Penale said.
"So what all were you into then?" the second man asked.
"I would rather show you than tell you. " Penale said.
"Then you can show us. We'll make our decision then." the third man, Mr. Warren, said.
"Very well. I'll lead you there. We can even take your truck." Penale said.
"Listen bro, I want you to stay here and tend the place while I'm gone. If I'm not back by this time tomorrow then you have permission to grab Ken and take this fucker out." Warren said. Max held her breath. Ken Warren was the man she had originally come here for anyway. If she could find him she could take out 2 of her targets in one night. Hell she could apparently cross off 2 other criminals too, though she didn't really care about what they were up to. They were merely growing drugs to sell on the streets as far as she was concerned.
"Speaking of, where the hell is that son of a bitch anyway?" the one with the thicker accent asked.
"Hell if I know. You go find him and tell him where I'm going."
"YO KEN GET YER ASS IN HERE!" the man with the thick accent started yelling. Max could hear him stepping closer to her position and started to quickly but quietly back up the stairs.
"I think I will, but I'll be bringing a guest with me!" came a voice from behind Max. Without thinking Max reacted by darting around the corner to the right, away from the voice behind her and hid behind the wall. The men in the hall had seen her and she could hear them pulling and readying guns.
Max was in trouble now. But she was determined to make it out, no matter how many people she had to kill.
Part 3:
Conflict
Chapter 11:
Frozen
Max began analyzing her situation immediately. She was in a kitchen of some kind. Looking around, she could see a block with knives in it on the table in the center. There was also a light switch on the opposite wall.
To her right was a small table with a hunting knife and a spoon. Thinking quickly, Max formulated a plan and had started moving when the first shot rang out, going through the wall and scraping her ear but otherwise leaving her unharmed.
Max pushed aside the pain of losing a chunk of her ear and grabbed the spoon. She compressed her fist, turning it into a roughly ball shaped hunk of metal. Then she took aim at the light switch. After taking a moment and listening to see how close the men were, she let the spoon chunk fly. It struck true and had an unexpected effect. The metal shorted out the switch wiring and threw the breaker. The house was plunged into darkness after a moments delay.
Max smiled. The situation was now a lot better because she could see just as well in the darkness as she could in the light because of her superpowers. Add in her super hearing and she could easily overrun her attackers.
Max grabbed the hunting knife and waited. She waited for a good 10 seconds in fact before she heard the men continue their approach. Apparently they had been disoriented by the blackout and had to wait until their eyes adjusted.
While she waited, Max stretched out her senses and found that her 'human radar', as she called it, could detect the exact positions of those in the house with her. She cursed herself. If she'd used it she could have figured out that someone was upstairs behind her.
Max found the nearest guy and gripped the knife a little bit tighter. He was about to round the corner. She looked back at the bend and saw the gun leading the mans arm. She waited until she could see the shoulder and then reached the knife over. With a minor grunt, she embedded the knife into the mans shoulder. The loud shriek of a scream followed and Max deduced from the pitch that it was Penale. Smiling cruelly, Max twisted the knife around in his arm. He fell down and grabbed his shoulder in agony.
Then Max's shoulder flared up with white hot pain. She lost her balance for a minute and staggered forward. It was then that she heard a gunshot. After a moment she figured out what had happened. She'd been shot in the shoulder through the wall. Looking back she saw the bullet hole
that confirmed her theory.
She was now in significant trouble and she needed to get out of there as soon as possible. But she also needed to take down her targets before they got away. As she began planning 3 more bullets came through the wall at her. Then behind her she heard the sound of one of them tripping. She looked around and saw that the one with the thick accent had tripped over the body on the floor. Smiling she bolted over to the table in the center of the room and grabbed a knife.
Hefting the knife Max threw it as hard as she could at the wall. The unusually long blade embedded itself in the wall and she heard a loud scream of pain from the other side. She'd managed to hit her other target too. Max's face curled into another cruel smile as she grabbed another knife and hurled it at the men on the ground, hitting the man who'd tripped in the back of his head. The knife cleanly severed his spine and killed him.
Then she grabbed another knife and the whole knife block, one in each hand. She rounded the table to where she could see the hall. Looking, she saw the oldest brother, Jon Warren according to his file, standing there trying to aim his gun without hitting his brothers. She threw the knife block at him as hard as he could. When it hit his head exploded and his remaining body fell to the ground in a slump.
The 2 that Max weren't targeting were now dead, giving her time to take care of the other 2. She went over to the body of who she assumed was the youngest Warren brother, though she didn't know what he looked like because he didn't have a criminal record. Somehow.
Regardless Max now could finish off her 2 real targets. She grabbed the body of Penale and saw he was unconscious. She frowned and decided to simply end his life. While she could wait for him to wake up, that might take too long. She couldn't stick around for too long so she stomped on his head, crushing it with no noticeable effort.
Then she moved back to the stairs. As she walked around the corner she saw the other guy she was looking for. He was staring at her with anger evident in his eyes. He was trying to aim his gun but his arm wouldn't move into the correct position.
"I'll kill you bitch." He said. Max frowned. He shouldn't even be able to see her. But he was looking right at her. So apparently he could. Not that it mattered. He no longer presented any danger to Max. She walked over to him and grabbed the gun from him. She made a point of bending it in half in front of him. She saw his eyes go wide. So he really could see her in this dark then.
He quickly lost all resistance and stared at Max with fear in his eyes. She knelt down to him and grabbed his head in her hands.
"What are you?" He asked. Max froze as she heard the fear in his voice. She couldn't answer him though. The unbridled fear in his eyes had brought back the memory of the guy she'd killed in the prison.
"Are you going to kill me?" He asked, his voice shaking horribly. He was barely able to put that sentence together.
Max staggered backwards as the memory hit her full force. Even though it had only been a day she had already forced it out of her mind. But now some part of her was fighting back. That part of her was somehow gaining control. But Max couldn't allow that. She needed to stay in control. She grabbed her head and screamed in agony as she fought with all her might to stop herself from defeating herself.
"Am I gonna die?" The man asked. That was the last straw for Max. She fell silent on the ground as she passed out. The battle had shifted inward. And both sides were determined to win, no matter the cost.
Chapter 12:
Inside Her Mind
Max picked herself up off the floor and stretched her sore body. As she looked around she realized she was inside the home she had grown up in. The same one that she had been tortured in. She wondered why she was here and suddenly the memories came flooding back to her. She remembered being inside the plantation house and how she had trouble when her target found her without her realizing it. Then she remembered being prepared to kill him. But before she could she'd fallen unconscious fighting her own self inside her head.
That would explain where she was now. She was inside her own mind. Most likely a dream situation of some kind. But she wondered why she was there. And more importantly, how to escape. Her body in the real world was at the mercy of the killer and rapist she had come to confront. And, though she wanted to be modest, she still knew she was very pretty. He would likely do unspeakable things to her body while she was out. That made getting out of this place the most important task she needed to accomplish.
She started looking around. She didn't want to have to hurt herself to get out. Not that she figured she could. When she was younger she'd been brutally beaten and raped by her own father. All that time she had wanted nothing more than to end her own life, but every time she tried she had the thought of her father manipulating her to force her to kill herself. She couldn't bear the thought that she was doing exactly as he had wanted, so she never could kill or harm herself.
Max looked through the kitchen and some memories of her past formed as ghosts in front of her. She saw the time in the kitchen when her father had threatened to burn her mothers face on the hot oven door after she refused to tell him where Max was hiding. She was, ironically, hiding in the cabinet next to the stove. Then she looked over at the table and saw the ghost of herself taped to it and her father holding the revolver to her head. That was enough for her and she left the room.
She went to her bedroom and as she walked in she saw the ghost of her body lying on the bed in a pool of tears. She was completely naked after having been once again raped by the man. She gulped hard and walked in. If she was to get answers, she needed to ignore the ghosts in this place and search it thoroughly. She needed to get out and finish her mission.
"But you can't ignore them can you?" came a voice from behind Max. A very familiar voice.
She whirled around instantly and prepared herself for a fight by bringing her fists up to protect her upper body. And then they instantly dropped when she saw the person standing there. There in the doorway was her. An almost perfect mirror reflection of herself. Well except her clothes. The Max before her was wearing a pink tshirt with the words Max spelled out in glitter. She had no pants on, but was wearing a pair of white and pink panties.
"I can if it's what's necessary to leave this place." Max, the one in the black outfit, said hoarsely. Her voice seemed to be catching as she looked over at her pink-clad self.
"No you can't. You can't ignore your past any more than I can." the pink covered Max said.
"You just shut up!" the black covered Max said. But her voice wavered, making her attempt to sound threatening fail on her instantly. The pink Max walked into the room and looked at the ghost of herself on the bed.
"Poor girl. She tried her best to escape 2 years ago from that horrid man. But she failed. He was always with her, even if she didn't know it."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying you never escaped." the pink-clad Max said she she turned back to her counterpart.
"No I did!" the black Max shouted. "I got away from him. He found me sure, but he's fucking dead because of it. He's gone!"
"No he's not. He's still alive. And standing right in front of me yelling at herself about she escaped."
"YOU ARE A FUCKING LIAR. HE'S GONE. FOREVER. I KILLED HIM. AND I'LL KILL YOU TOO!"
"Why are you so hasty to kill? Ask yourself that. Why do you hate me? Why do you want me dead? Why do you want to hurt others?"
"Because they deserve it!"
"No. It's because you are him. You're the part of him he planted in that girl over there. He planted himself inside of you and he's been taking over this whole time. That's what you are. You're him. You can deny it all you want but ask yourself this. If you weren't, then why do you want to kill me? If you just wanted to kill others I could understand. But you want me dead too. Even though I'm a part of you. You want me dead."
"Yeah I do you fucking justice whore. You don't want to kill anyone. You think the world is a great place and you're okay with men like that man escaping
justice. I'm here to deliver that justice that they think they can get away from!"
"You're just twisting the facts now. You don't want me dead because I don't want them dead. I do want them dead. But I don't want to be a cold blooded killer. I'd rather they face real justice. Justice delivered by the impartial. I know it's not a perfect system, but it's up to us to keep it as fair as possible. We have the power, let's use it to fix the broken world, not destroy it."
"I don't fucking think so princess ass muncher! I'm gonna destroy the bad parts of the world. And that will correct this shithole of a planet. I'll be the justice this place deserves!"
"No, you'll just bring about it's destruction.
"Quit your bitching! I'm not you! You're just a piece of shit fairy who thinks the world is actually good. You're naive you fucking pacifistic dumpster!"
"But you are me. You're the part of me that the horrid man who called himself our father planted in that body over there. You're every bit as evil as he is. I'm trying to help you see what you are. I'm hoping you'll change. I'm trying to help you understand."
"Well you'll have better luck using your fists! I already said I'm not you. There's nothing more to say!"
"But you are. Just look at yourself in this mirror. You're as much me as I am."
The black clothed Max went over the mirror, mostly out of a desire to prove the imposter before her wrong, and her jaw dropped again. There staring back at her was herself. But not the her that she was when she entered. She was wearing a pink tshirt with Max spelled out in glitter and white and pink panties. She stared ack at herself in the mirror as the other Max moved behind her.
"See, I told you. You are me as much as you are that man."
Without another word Max glared at herself in the mirror and then turned to her right, throwing a roundhouse kick into the other Max. The other Max went flying through the wall to her left, destroying the wall in the process. She flew through into the adjacent room, her parents bedroom. She landed on the bed and Max jumped on top of her.
Chronicles of the Supers (Book 1): Born From Darkness (The Story of Max) Page 7