"You'll remember soon." came Max's voice. From behind her.
Max turned to look and saw a pink clad Max, wearing a pink tshirt with her name in glitter and white/pink underwear. Suddenly the dream she'd had when she fell unconscious earlier returned to her. They stared at each for a few moments before Dark Max finally moved.
In a blur of motion Dark Max attacked Light Max with a straight punch to the face. Light Max dodged nimbly and countered the punch with a kick to the gut of Dark Max. Dark Max flew up into the ceiling and ended up in her old bedroom. She impacted that ceiling and bounced off of it.
Light Max flew up through the hole and grabbed her Dark counterpart by the throat. Then she slammed Dark Max into the frame of her bed. There was a loud crunching sound and Dark Max fell limp to the ground.
After a tense moment Dark Max sat up on her knees. She looked into Light Max's eyes and tried to glare. Instead all that happened was she started to cry. Light Max went over and grabbed Dark Max in a gentle hug.
"Am I really like him?" Dark Max asked between sobs.
"Not anymore." came the response from Light Max, with a hint of crying evident in her voice.
Chapter 15:
Forgiveness and Change
Light Max sat holding Dark Max as she cried. Though the term 'Dark' no longer applied. After everything she'd been through since the mess at the prison, she had begun to have her own doubts about whether her chosen path had been right. While it was True that the Light Max part of her had a helping hand, all she had done was guide the other part towards the correct path. The choice was down to her 'Dark' counterpart int he end.
As the both held each other the room they were in began to slowly dissolve from the top down. After a few minutes the surroundings were completely gone and the girls floated in a sea of nothingness. After a few more moments a small circular arbor appeared around them. Inside of it was a small table with 2 chairs. However, neither Max noticed the change for a long time.
After both Max's tears had dried up they finally got a good look at their surroundings. Dark Max looked around in wonder but Light Max went to go sit down. As she did a small cup appeared in front of her on the table. After several more moments the other Max finally noticed the table. She silently went to go sit down. When she did a small cup also appeared before her. She looked down at it and noticed that it contained nothing. She raised an eyebrow and looked in her twins direction.
"So what is this place?" 'Dark' Max asked. Light Max genuinely smiled at her counterpart.
"I'm not entirely sure but I know it's inside our mind. I suspect it has to do with our powers. Like some kind of internal landscape for us. I also know that the world we see in here is formed by our thoughts. That's how I knew who you were. But I'm afraid to say I don't know much else."
"Wait, you're saying the landscape reflects me?"
"And me, in a way."
"So does that mean I'm empty now?"
"No, it means you're a clean slate. We're a clean slate. We're ready to rebuild."
"So we're empty then. Got it."
"Well if you want to be so pessimistic, then yeah, we are."
As they said this, the air around them grew darker and more forboding. Both of them noticed the change and glanced around as a chill ran down their spines.
"That's what this place represents. Those negative thoughts make this place darker. I tried to avoid it for that reason."
"Oh. Okay then."
Both girls sat in awkward silence for a long time. As they did the empty space became a bit more cheery than it had been a moment ago. After a while Light Max started squirming a bit.
"Gotta go pee?" her counterpart asked, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"No, I just really want to get out there myself."
"What do you mean?"
"Well..." Light Max began. "You see, you're the original me."
"Okay? But what's that got to do with your earlier comment?"
"Well, when that man..." Both Max's swallowed a bit at the mention of their father. "Well when he attacked us, it caused a trauma. That dream we had later on caused a split. The part of us that used to be him split off from the part that wanted to save people."
"So I became evil and you became good?"
"That's a horrible way to look at it" Light Max said with a pout.
"But I'm still correct?"
"Technically yes. If you wanna be a downer."
"Okay then. So what did you mean by 'get out there'?"
"Well, being that I'm a completely different person, I've never gotten to experience the outside world. I really want to!"
"Wait wait, what? You're saying you haven't seen the outside world?"
"Yes. You see I'm technically another person, stuck inside your mind."
'Dark' Max raised an eyebrow. It was a bit much to take in. Then again, in the last few weeks, she'd developed super powers, become a killer, fought the Max sitting opposite her and won, fought again and lost, and learned a valuable life lesson from a rapist. If any of that was even remotely believeable, then this was too. Just to be sure, 'Dark' Max pinched her cheek. The only response was a minor twinge of pain.
'Yep, definitely real.' she thought to herself.
##########
"So when's this plan going down?" asked a tall dark skinned man. He was wearing a pair of glasses with a broken lense and his shoulder length hair was unkempt and greasy. He was fairly muscular as evident beneath the skin tight blue shirt he wore.
"It'll be a few more months. Surveillance at this hold is kind of sketchy. We have to wait it out and do a count during every shift change to figure out how many are inside." said another man. While the other guy was fairly muscular, this guy was an insane bulk of a human being. His light black skin contrasted sharply with the dark black shirt he wore, which was too tight on his body despite the fact that it was a XXL. He looked like this shirt and his skin were going to rip off of his body if he so much as twitched. His hair was cut extremely short, making him appear to be on the verge of balding and he was wearing a pair of thin black sunglasses.
"Right. Well then let's get on with it." the one with the glasses said as he pulled out a very large laptop.
"So that thing'll do what you said?" the muscular one asked.
"Yup. All we need is a good picture of each face that enters and the program will be able to count out the number of people inside. Like you said, we'll need to do at least a few months unless you can provide better surveillance. Which I wish you could."
"Not up to me. The black market isn't a god or a group of gods. There's things even they don't know."
"Sadly enough."
"So where do we need the equipment?"
"Right above the entrance camera. Or if you prefer I'd like to replace the entrance camera entirely."
"You can do that?"
"Given about an hours uninterrupted access, yes."
"Can we do that?"
"Maybe. The guards don't stand at the guard gate between midnight and sunrise. Dunno why though."
"Then we'll do it. Less impact that way. With any luck they'll never notice the new camera."
"Well then let's get to work. I don't want to get caught this early in the operation Frank."
"If we're caught this early, James, the only thing we'll have left to worry about is how long it'll be before the boss kills us."
##########
Max awoke groggily. Her entire body hurt a lot and she could barely move. She opened her eyes to look around.
Her eyes took a long time to focus but when they finally did she noticed she was lying across a series of chairs. It was uncomfortable, but probably better than lying on the floor. Or on the stairs.
She slowly tried to sit up but instead managed to fall off the chairs and onto the floor. She landed with a thud and nearly passed out from the extra pain. But she managed to keep herself conscious. If she hadn't, the other Max would have argued her breathless about taking over. As it was, she'd
only barely convinced Milia, the named she'd given to her "Light" half to help distinguish them better, that she needed to be in control until she got them out of the house they were likely still stuck in. Max had more training with her actual physical body and so would be able to better utilize it. Milia had begrudgingly agreed that she was right and allowed Max to be the one to wake up.
As she rolled over onto her stomach, Max looked around at the place. It felt like she'd been there for many months even though she logically new it hadn't even been an hour. If her internal clock was as good as her powers were, she still could take an extra 15 minutes and not be late getting back to the school. Barring her body failing her from the blood loss, anyway.
As she looked around she saw the man who'd she originally planned to kill, Ken, lying motionless on the ground. She couldn't sense him but she refused to believe he was dead. She willed her body to cross the floor, inching along more slowly than a snail. Finally she reached his body and placed a hand on his chest. She couldn't feel his heart beating. He really was gone.
Max grimaced. It was her fault he was gone. She'd been the one to kill him and that hit her like an anvil to the head. She felt extremely depressed over that fact. As she thought about her life up to that point she felt the weight of pure darkness on her shoulders. She felt like simply giving up and just dying right there, as if only death could atone for how she had let darkness consume her. As she dropped her head she began to feel dizzy and she realized that if she slept now she wouldn't wake up.
'I do deserve it.' She thought to herself.
'WAKE THE FUCK UP BITCH!' Milia yelled within Max's mind. Max jolted up suddenly from the loud sound.
'That's better.' Milia said.
"What did you do that for you idiot?" Max said out loud.
'Because you were about to let yourself die, dumbass.'
"So? I deserve it after what I've done."
'No you don't. There are still people who need to be saved.'
"I hate it when you're right."
With that comment Max began to try and stand. She could feel Milia pushing her on from inside her mind. As Max finally stood up she started to feel a bit better. Her healing powers had already kicked in before she'd even passed out the first time but the damage had been so severe that it would be at least a day before she healed fully.
After contemplating the area for a moment Max finally decided to call the police before leaving. She was just sprinting away, back to her school dorm room, when she heard the police sirens closing in on the compound.
Part 4:
Consequences
Chapter 16:
Investigation
"What the actual fuck happened here?" asked a ruff looking man in a police uniform. He had dark brown skin and was surprisingly skinny. He was surveying the crime scene at the Warren farm after an anonymous tip came in stating everyone there was dead. Nearly half the police department, and the state bureau of investigation, had showed up on receiving a tip. They had been after the Warrens for various crimes for years now, but never could get the evidence together to grab a search warrant for the place. Then when the tip had come in, they finally had a legal way on to the farm to search the place. But instead they found a small war zone.
"I don't know, but we'll be able to figure it out when we collect evidence." said a lab technician.
"Then get on it. I want to know what happened yesterday."
"Aye sir. Alright people, get to work! Officer Dan here wants that report finished yesterday, so get out the time travel boxes!" the tech said, barking orders to his entire team. Officer Dan gave the guy a bemused grin and left to search the premises with the rest of the officers.
They all knew it would take them months just to work through the plethora of evidence before them. But they had to. The entire family they'd been after was now lying before them, dead. One of them even had a missing head. It was a mess of a massacre that none of them had ever seen. Several techs had to be escorted off the premises and to an ambulance due to the gory sight.
It ended up taking them 2 whole days to catalog all of the evidence from the plantation. But when they finished they dutifully began their work tracking down the truth.
##########
Max lay in her bed back at her dorm unmoving while she stared at the ceiling. She was feeling like she was stuck underneath Niagara Falls, unable to breath or move from all the water crashing on top of her. She couldn't explain what was wrong but Milia had been asking for her to sleep for a long time. So finally Max closed her eyes and instantly fell asleep.
She woke up in the same dreamlike landscape she had last seen Milia in.
"Finally." Milia said from a table off to the side. She stood up and went over and hugged Max.
"What's going on?" Max said. She noted she didn't feel the same metaphorical crushing weight that she had been when awake.
"It's alright. In here you're safe." Milia said as she let Max go.
"What's going on?" Max asked. It seemed that since Milia had been trapped inside their shared mind, she knew a lot more about the place than Max did, so Max had decided to defer to her with that regard.
"First let's sit down. You've had a rough time lately. Take some time to let our physical body sleep." Milia said.
"But if I'm not dreaming then how can I rest?"
"Our powers help in that regard. This is what normal humans would call 'lucid dreaming'. It means you can rest and stay in here without worrying about negative side affects."
"Okay?" Max asked, completely unsure of how much of that was the truth. She sat down at the table and a drink appeared in front of her. She grabbed the glass and sipped a bit of it, but it was as tasteless as it had been the last time she was there.
"So what's going on Milia?" Max asked as the other girl sat down.
"Are you sure you want to know?" Milia asked, eyeing her counterpart sadly.
"Yes."
"I believe you're depressed."
Max just sat there contemplating the words for a moment. She thought about it but couldn't place why it seemed right. She'd rarely ever heard of depression so she didn't really know too much about what it was.
"What makes you say that?" Max asked after many minutes of contemplation.
"I remember everything you've ever read. It's part of our shared powers."
"Are you sure?" Max asked. She wanted to believe Milia, but she couldn't recall ever reading anything about depression. Or any other mental illness for that matter.
"Yes. You were curious about it just before he killed our mother. You had checked out a book from the library."
Max thought for a moment but she couldn't remember that. Then again, the trauma of losing her mother had been the tipping point in her life. After that she had begun planning on running away, and spent a year preparing what she needed to get away.
"Okay then. So why do you think I have depression?" Max asked.
"Because you exhibit some of the symptoms. Even ones you're not yet aware of."
"Such as?"
"You're feeling the crushing weight of your past on yourself, wishing for something to happen to kill you. You feel like there's no other escape. Most of all, you feel guilty for what you've done because of that man."
Both girls sat in silence for a long time after, each one contemplating their next words.
"So why don't I feel like that in here?" Max finally asked.
"Because, in here, we share emotions. It's easier for 2 people to deal with the same emotion than for you to do it alone."
"What do you mean we share emotions?"
"Since we're two people created from the same person, when both of us are in this place we automatically share emotions. It's 2 people feeling the pain, and joy, of one."
"So when I'm in here, all of my feelings imact me less?"
"Yeah."
"Okay then. How do I deal with depression."
Milia sat for a long time thinking before finally answering.
"
I don't know."
Both girls sat in silence again before Max spoke.
"So, if you took control, would you experience the same emotions at full force?"
"Yes, I would. After all, we share a past. My reasons would be different, but I would feel the same emotions."
"What does that mean?"
"It means I'll be depressed, but not because of the same reasons you are. And that's all I'm going to say on that matter."
Max eyed Milia suspiciously, but decided to let the matter drop. The girl was just as entitled to secrets as Max was after all. And Max hadn't learned how to read Milia's mind the way Milia could read Max's anyway, so there was currently no way for her to pry the information out.
##########
"So how much longer we got genius?" Frank asked.
"Well we have all the faces and the program is already calculating the count. But it doesn't have enough data yet. So far it's estimating between 35 and 45 people." James said.
"I didn't ask that. I asked how much longer this is going to fucking take." Frank said. The now 2.5 month operation was wearing thin on his patience. He hadn't been able to leave the truck except when the cameras needed maintenance. And that had only been once since they'd been installed.
"I'd say another week and we'll have the info we need. Barring a special inspection of course. If that happens then the computer will tag the data and we'll be back at square one."
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning we'd have to start re-collecting data from the beginning."
"And why the hell would we have to do that?"
"I didn't have time to make the program that robust. Because of that, if an error pops up, such as a person who only visits once every few years, we'd have to start over again."
They both fell silent as a car pulled up to the gates. This late at night they weren't expecting anyone. They listened carefully to the audio from the custom camera they'd installed in place of the old one.
"This is Technical Seargent Harris, here under orders from Major General Lousko."
"And what are your orders Seargent?"
Chronicles of the Supers (Book 1): Born From Darkness (The Story of Max) Page 9