"Still think I'm you? You're a complete bitch. You say I'm you but then you say I'm that man. I'm neither. I'm Max you fucking whore!"
"No you're not. You're Max but not the Max you should be. You're the evil Max. You're hatred. You're rage. You're darkness incarnate. You are the piece of that man he left in us from a young age. He planted his memories and his twisted mind inside us. He wanted you to be him. He wanted you to be his continuation. He is trying to attain immortality through you. He wants to pass on his own self. That's what you are. You're his attempt to keep himself around."
Max punched beside the other Max's head, her fist going through the bed from the sheer force behind her punch.
"I told you, I'm the opposite of that fucker! I'M NOTHING LIKE HIM!" she emphasized the last part with another punch to the other side of the other Max's head. The punch disintegrated parts of the bed, leaving a strangely shaped crater in it. Her other self sighed and looked sadly into her eyes.
"I tried. I'm sorry I couldn't stop you from this path. I'm afraid I'm going to have to take control now."
With that, both Max's punched at each other. The dark Max connected her punch to the chest of her other self while the light Max connected her punch to the eye of the evil projection holding her down. Both Max's flew away from each other, crashing through the roof and burrowing through the floor respectively.
Chapter 13:
Round One, Begin!
The Light Max went crashing through the floor and into the family room below her parents bedroom. The Dark Max flew through the roof of the bedroom and should have exited outside. But in an adrenaline fueled moment she noticed that she was crashing through the floor of the family room instead. Another adrenaline fueled moment later, she crashed into something. Something that felt suspiciously like a human.
After landing they both stopped midair the two Max's braced for the impact of landing hard on the floor. But neither ever did. They continued to float in the air above the hole, each looking at each other through the strange portal that appeared to be locking them in their house.
They both suddenly turned to their left, trying to catch each other off guard with a swift right hook. Both failed however and instead their fists collided at the same time, sending both of them flying away from each other horizontally. The flew through the walls of the family room and kitchen, which had no separating walls. As soon as the wall collapsed the 2 holes connected and the 2 Max's slammed face first into each other at the edge of the 2 new holes.
They both pried themselves off of each other and rubbed their foreheads. Both had a headache and wished for nothing more than painkillers. But they both had a battle to fight. And each one was determined to win.
The Light Max struck first this time with a straight punch to the Dark Max's chest. The Dark Max sidestepped the punch and retaliated with a kick between the Light Max's legs. The Light Max dodged backwards avoiding the kick and retaliated by throwing a piece of rubble from the wall at her dark counterpart.
Dark Max dodged the piece of debris but then Light Max suddenly ducked. The same piece debris came flying from behind Light Max once again and hit Dark Max in her nose. Dark Max was sent flying back as her nose lit up in pain like a flamethrower being used to light a birthday cake. Dark Max flew right into a solid straight punch from Light Max and the back of her head, right at the soft part below the skull, and that part also flared up in pain.
Dark Max suppressed the pain, an ability she'd learned to do in her training and stood up to face her counterpart. Thinking quickly she devised a strategy for her next attack. She grabbed a piece of rubble and hurled it at Light Max in the same way her counterpart had done earlier. The rubbled flew through the hole on the other side of the wall as Light Max sidestepped it.
Light Max was about to open her mouth to make a comment when the rubble flew over Dark Max's left shoulder. It impacted Light Max's open mouth, chipping her front teeth from the force of the impact. Light Max pushed aside the pain as well and then the cleverness of her polar opposite hit her like a freight train. Dark Max had thrown the rubble off center, guessing where her opponent would dodge ahead of time.
Then the point was hammered home with a solid kick to the jaw that caused Light Max to fly up through the first hole in the house that they'd made. Dark Max changed the direction of her kick and brought it down, hammering the back of her opposites head as she flew through the hole in the floor.
Light Max was sent flying through the floor and Dark Max prepared to reverse the direction of her kick again. However Light Max grabbed the bed frame from her bedroom and stopped her momentum cold. Then she lifted the bed frame up and started spinning. She made it look like she was going to throw it down and Dark Max prepared a counter. However at the last second Light Max reversed the direction of her throw, hurling it up into the hole above her.
The bed slammed into Dark Max from below, sending her flying up into the ceiling. Light Max was there waiting on her, with a mirror. The mirror broke as it impacted Dark Max's head and cut her head very badly. She pushed aside the pain though and lept up, headbutting Light Max. Light Max's jaw cracked painfully at the connection and she staggered backwards.
Dark Max grabbed the floating bed frame and used it to bludgeon Light Max repeatedly. After the fifth hit Light Max backed away from her dark counterpart and grabbed a piece of the mirror frame as a weapon. She hurled the piece at Dark Max, causing her to stop her assault. During the moment of confusion, Dark Max lost sight of Light Max. A big mistake.
Light Max flew in behind Dark Max in a spray of debris as she broke through the wall. She used the debris like a pair of brass knuckles and knocked a quarter inch chunk of flesh out of her dark counterparts side. Dark Max shrieked so loudly that the sound wave blew out Light Max's eardrums, causing her ears to bleed.
For a moment both women backed away from each other and took stock of their injuries. Dark Max was bleeding out and would likely die if she didn't stem the flow. Light Max was bleeding from her ears and unable to hear, severely diminishing her ability to fight.
Each girl took a moment to try and fix their injuries. Dark Max ripped her shirt off her body and tied it as tightly as she could around her waist. Her injury flared up and she screeched again. But she continued to the makeshift bandage so that she could continue fighting. After the blood had welled up and stained the shirt it started drying, preventing further blood loss.
Light Max was the worse off of the two. She couldn't stop the bleeding in her ears, and she was now deaf. She would be at a severe disadvantage with one of her senses missing, even temporarily. She would need to push her remaining senses into overdrive if she stood a chance of winning.
Dark Max finally regained her composure a moment before Light Max. But she needed time for the bandage to work so she could continue to fight without further blood loss. So she opted for a new distraction strategy.
"So are you ready to give up yet?" Dark Max asked. Light Max couldn't hear her, but she could read her lips well enough.
"Sorry, but I'm afraid you've already lost. That wound just drained you." Light Max half yelled while pointing at her mirror images side. Both of them took a moment to catch their breaths as the exertion of talking was causing them to use up their remaining adrenaline surges. Pretty soon both of them would be out of action.
Light Max prepared to open her mouth to speak some more but Dark Max cut her off.
"Save it princess bitch. I know you want to tell me to surrender. Well if you want me too you're gonna have to come over here and make me. But you're gonna die if you do. So you'd better make up your mind."
"Ha. That's the richest thing I've ever heard. You've literally got a part of your body missing."
"Yeah but I'm still more than you ever were. I have a reason to fight. Unlike you, the one who just wants everyone to suffer to appease your sense of pacifism."
"I was wrong. That was even richer. But what's funny is your attempt to rile me. I won't fall for your tacti
cs. They're the same tactics I've seen before. The same tactics used against us by our father. I shouldn't be surprised since you're his daughter after all."
"Now looks who's a rich bitch. I'm not him. I'm the justice he, and others like him, deserve."
"If that was true then why do you hate me too?"
"Because you don't care!"
"I do care." Light Max said with a glint of tears in her eyes. "I care about saving you. You're one part of me, but you don't deserve to be his puppet forever. No one does."
"I told you I'm NOT HIM!"
With that Dark Max shot forward like a bullet, impacting Light Max. They both flew through the hole in the wall repeatedly. They entered and exited through the room over a dozen times. Finally Light Max put a stop to their flight by grabbing the wall as the flew past. The wall broke underneath her grip but they stopped in the middle of the room on the next fly-by anyway.
Light Max brought up a knee into Dark Max's side, causing it to explode in pain. Dark Max screamed for the third time since the fight had begun. She backed away from Light Max and grabbed her side in agony.
Light Max stopped and stared at her other half while tears began to flow from her eyes.
"I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt you. But I can't let you hurt anyone else." Light Max said.
With that she moved in for the kill, aiming to break Dark Max's neck with a single blow. However at the last second Dark Max moved. She moved with such fury and speed that Light Max missed her fist completely until it had hit her.
Dark Max's fist tore through her other half's body, entering in the chest where the heart was and exiting out the back where her spine should have been. On the other end a spray of blood and tissue flew across the room, leaving dents in the walls from the impact. Light Max fell limp on Dark Max's arm.
Dark Max grabbed her other half and, completely uncharacteristic of her, hugged her other half. She cried a bit.
"I'm sorry I had to be so brutal. But I have to save the world. I have to protect the others out there like me who are being hurt and killed by men just like him. If I didn't, I think we might have been friends."
As Dark Max cried the world faded around her. After everything else was gone the body of Light Max started fading into nothingness.
Chapter 14:
Unexpected Occurence
Max groggily opened her eyes and blinked them clear. It took a few blinks before she could see properly, and her eyes stung quite a lot. She tried to reach up to rub them but her entire body hurt too much to move. She debated laying there for a while but it was extremely uncomfortable. As she tried to stand up she found the ground she was on to be odd. It felt like a flight of stairs.
Max's eyes widened in horror as she realized where she was. She was still at the plantation house where she had attempted to kill that rapist she was after. She looked around but she douldn't see anything. She had to fight her grogginess to understand what was happening, but she soon realized she was facing the stairs, lying on her stomach. That would explain why she couldn't see anything.
Slowly Max used her arms to push herself up. However she lost balance and slipped, falling down the stairs. Thankfully she was laying only a few steps up, but it still hurt like hell. She groaned a bit and opened her eyes again. At least she could see the ceiling, meaning she was laying on her back this time.
"You might wanna be careful there young lady." Came a voice. Max froze as she recognized the voice. It belonged to her original target, Ken Warren. She turned her head, which was about all the movement she could manage.
"Listen, I'm sorry bout shooting ya." He said, with a tinge of sadness in his voice. Max just glared at him, but her glare didn't have the force she needed to do anything. Plus, with it still dark, she doubted he could even see it.
"You lost a lotta blood, but I managed to bandage up the wound and stop it."
Max froze as the blood in her veins changed into ice instantly. She looked over at her left shoulder, her neck protesting the whole way, and noticed a bloody makeshift bandage. She looked down and saw that her outfit was completely in tact, minus the visor-like sunglasses, which had fallen off of her at some point in the fight.
"Don't worry, I didn't do nothing to ya." Ken said, his voice sounding distinctly tired now.
"Why?" Max asked weakly.
"Why'd I help ya?"
Max said nothing, so Ken took this as his cue to continue.
"Ya know, despite what ya heard about me, I'm not all that bad. Wanna hear the truth? Assuming you wanna believe me, I mean."
"I doubt I will, but give it a try." Max said. She blinked. Did she really just say that? She couldn't tell if those were her words or someone elses because they sounded so foreign to her usual thoughts.
"Well, ya see, it's true, in a way, that I raped that girl. But I didn't do it cause I wanted to." Ken began. He paused for a moment and Max noticed a single tear streaming from his eye when she looked over at him.
"Ya see, father was a hell of a bad man. Course so was Mother, but all she cared about was drugs. Father was the really bad one. He enjoyed those sick crimes he committed."
"Who was he?" Max asked, now genuinely curious.
"You wouldn't know him. He was never caught. Now see I don't wanna upset a lady, but I can't finish the story without saying why he was never caught. Do you wanna continue the story."
"I've heard worse I'm sure."
"Well, then it's on you now. Ya see, when he was done raping those poor young girls, he'd burn their genitals."
Max instantly puked. Only given her position, most of it ended up on her body and face. She'd heard of those crimes. Everyone had. But to date there was no evidence connecting any person to the crime. It was pretty obvious to everyone that the man was destroying whatever evidence remained behind. It was as gruesome a crime as anything Max could imagine.
"Now ya see why I didn't wanna tell ya, don't ya?"
Max didn't respond.
"Well see, since our family was so torn between the 2 sides, father made a choice. He would require all of us to try his way and mothers way. We'd then decide what our own paths would be.
Well, after older brother tried doin drugs and raping, he decided on growin drugs instead. Then I was up next, and I decided to follow brother on growin. Father got mad and intentionally left the evidence in tact so he could land me in prison. He wanted a son like him, but none of us was.
When the third one went into growin too, father got so mad he attempted to kill us. But older brother protected us and shot him in the head. Ironically enough, mother died a cancer on the same day. After that we was alone.
But it seemed father had outsmarted us. The next day brother was arrested for his growin operation. They found him in a hotel doing a deal after an anonymous tip that came in the day fore father was killed. Now true to his word brother protected us by not givin up the location of the farm. I'm sure you noticed on ya way in it's relatively hidden right?"
Max nodded slightly. She knew the location because police had suspected it was the Warrens home. But the land was under a false name, so they didn't have enough evidence to actually obtain a search warrant. So they had to get some. Only that had proved fruitless. Over a year of stakeouts and searching and not one iota of evidence had been recovered. The oldest brother that Ken was referring to had not left the farm since his escape from the police, meaning they couldn't catch him going to and from the property either.
"And ever since then we been livin here, hiding from the cops and using middle men to sell the product.
Now, I'm truly sorry for what I did to that girl. But I didn't have a choice. Father held me at gunpoint and forced me too."
At that Ken's eyes watered even more. He made a slight whimpering noise but quickly silenced himself. After a moment he reached a hand up and wiped his eyes clear.
"Guess it don't matter now. I'm bleeding out from this knife hole in the back of my shoulder. I suppose I won't live much longer at this rate."
> Max gulped a bit. She'd been the one who'd placed that wound there.
'Wait, why do I care. This man raped someone. So what if he was forced? He should have balked and taken the god damned bullet. He's nothing but scum. He deserves to die.' Max thought to herself.
But as soon as she thought it, a small part of her knew it was wrong. She didn't know what part that was. She felt like she did, but she couldn't place that part of herself. It wasn't the other part of her she'd just fought either. She knew that much for certain. But something about the mans story had struck a chord in her.
Her own father had been just as evil as Ken's. And here he was bandaging her wounds and talking to her like she was human. Something had changed while she was out cold and, though she didn't understand what was happening, a part of Max felt that this was the true Ken Warren. The one who was finally free of his family and their evil.
"Listen, you should get outta here. I can tell you've seen enough of these types of horrors. Leave me here to die alongside 'em where I belong."
Max laid on the ground for a good fifteen minutes. Eventually she managed the strength to stand up. After taking a moment to get her bearings, Max moved towards Ken Warren with only one thought in mind. Death.
She got close and bent over to grab him. As she did she saw the fear in his eyes. After a moment it was replaced with acceptance though. She felt sorry for him for a moment. Then she forced the thought out of her head. But after she did it still resurfaced. No matter what she tried she couldn't rid herself of it.
She looked down at the man she had grabbed. Then she forced herself to act. As she stood up with him in her grip, she passed out.
##########
Max awoke on her feet inside her old home once again. She instantly started looking around. She knew this place, but she couldn't place where she knew it from.
Chronicles of the Supers (Book 1): Born From Darkness (The Story of Max) Page 8