"Hold still!" Max screamed as he bombarded Kobra with a barrage of exploding red orbs. Kobra flew away fast enough to dodge all of them. His new form not only gave him the strength to clash with Max easily, but the speed to dodge his attacks with ease.
Max, having enough of this, created his biggest orb yet, twice the size of his entire body.
Kobra saw the orb coming twice as fast as the others and tried to dodge, but he quickly realized Max expected that and planned ahead.
Little did he know that Max wasn't aiming at where he was, but where he was about to be, so his plan to dodge the orb put him right in its trajectory.
With little to no time to react, there was nothing he could do but tank it. Exactly as Max intended.
The orb exploded with a massive shockwave that could be heard from miles away. Max covered his eyes from the massive blast. The moment he looked, he saw nothing.
Kobra was incinerated.
At least that's what he thought.
A mere millisecond later, Max turned and raised his left arm to block a powerful kick coming from Kobra.
The two held their position for however long it took, neither backing down.
"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting us to still be on the same level after my upgrade. Colour me impressed. I have to ask though..."
"What is it?" Max asked, cutting him off.
"Why do you surround yourself with weaklings? You seem like the type to have his own agenda, so why them?"
"Save it. I know where this goes. Next you're gonna ask me to join you. I'm not interested."
"You can't blame a guy for asking. Well, why them and not me?" Kobra said, smiling under his mask.
"One of them has a power beyond the both of us. Beyond Canman or this world. I want it and the only way to get it is to help him attain it."
"That's some crazy info you're giving me. What's to stop me from taking him and harnessing his power for myself?"
"Simple. I'm not gonna let you get to him, let alone use him."
Kobra scoffed but still kept his leg on Max's arm.
"We'll see about that." Kobra said mockingly and used his other leg to hit Max. Luckily Max saw it coming and blocked it, but he wasn't prepared for what came next.
Kobra's mask opened to reveal a large, gaping mouth belonging to a ravenous beast. A mouth he used to take a bite at Max's neck.
Max screamed in pain.
Kobra then released his jaw from Max's neck and smiled. This time Max could see it.
"W...what the hell did you do to me?" Max said, his energy fading and his wings growing smaller. His vision was degrading drastically by the second as well.
"That's my venom fucking you up right there. This suit. This orb, it isn't my real ability. My venom is. Strongest venom in the world. Capable of killing entire cities' worth of people in one bite. And I just pumped you full of it."
Max tried to resist its effects with his red energy, but it wasn't working. He knew he could, but doing so would leave him utterly powerless for days.
He couldn't afford that now.
"Your block is getting weaker. Seems you don't have much time left. If you were a normal human you'd have disintegrated completely by now. Such a shame really. My most impressive adversary reduced to this."
Max ignored his words and kept on struggling to keep the venom at bay, but even he knew it was pointless.
He still had Kobra to deal with. And what's to stop him from biting Max again?
There was only one option left.
Without hesitation, Max quickly threw off Kobra's legs and grabbed his torso. Just as Kobra prepared to bite him again, Max overloaded his red energy and released it in a giant, fiery explosion.
The blast not only burned away all the venom in his system but his suit as well, leaving him buck naked.
Kobra was disintegrated on the spot. He did try to teleport away, but it was too late.
At such a distance, the explosion obliterated him before he had time to tell his armor to do anything.
That much power at such a tiny distance would obliterate anything.
Out of power, Max began to fall to his doom.
He was still conscious, but had little to no way of protecting himself from fall damage.
Until...
He felt himself, down to his core. He still had some red energy left. Not even close to enough to land him safely, but if he timed it just right, he might survive.
Might.
He still tried it though. Just as he landed he released the miniscule energy he had left to form a barrier...
And with a loud thud, he hit the concrete street...
One week later...
"Hey..."
Jake heard the soft, faint sound of Max's voice. He woke up to see Max sitting in front of him.
"Wh...Max? Where the hell am I? What happened?! Where's..."
"Hey, it's okay. Don't stress yourself out. You're in our base. The infirmary, to be specific. It's been a week. You've been out for a really long time."
"What about..."
"The mission? We won. The Kobra Klan members are on their way to the Cage. Uncountable is being interrogated by the police on the extra members of the Dragon Klan. Kobra's dead, though. I couldn't stop myself. I hope that's okay with you?"
"Where's..."
"Zack, Paulina, and Stacya are fine. They're all watching a movie. Wish you were there for the celebration, though. Even Luthor came. He's with us family now. I..."
"Where the fuck is Ivy, Max!"
The was a long silence.
Max quickly looked away and coughed.
"Jake..."
"Where the fuck is my girlfriend, Max!" Jake bellowed. The monstrous sound of his voice causing Max to sink into his seat.
Despite the power difference, Jake was in control here.
"Listen, Jake. She lost her collar. She..."
"No she didn't!" Jake spat at him. "She had it taken by Dao D. It was not her fault."
"I never said it was. I'm just saying she doesn't have her collar. She lost control and turned into her monster form. I'm so sorry."
Jake immediately got up and started disconnecting the tubes attached to his left arm and nose.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Max shouted, stopping Jake as he tried to get up.
"I'm going to look for Ivy." Jake said coldly, resisting Max's grip.
"No, you're not. You just woke up from near death. You should rest."
"But Ivy..."
"I've been looking for her for you. It'll take a while, but I'll find her. All you need to do is rest."
"Max... What is this?"
"What is what? I'm helping you out."
"Yeah. And you're being so nice to me. You haven't acted this way since high school. Why do I feel like you're acting?"
"Why would I act? We're in a team now. We're both supers respected by the world. Hell, in a few more days we have our first press conference. You remember those days, right? The days I dreamed of glamor and splendor? Those are right at our doorstep, all thanks to you and Milten."
"Yeah. I guess so." Jake said, looking down. He still couldn't break the feeling Max was hiding something.
"I'll find Ivy, Jake. Don't worry about me and focus on your speedy recovery. Oh, and one question."
"What?"
"How the hell did you beat Dao D."
"I... I don't really remember. I think I let go or something like that?"
"Let go?"
"It's hard to put it into words. I'll explain whenever I can, but not now. My head's suddenly pounding the heck outta me."
"That's fine. Honestly, this is better info than I expected. Take all the time you need."
Max's wrist watch started to flicker. He was wearing a red T-shirt and slacks but nothing more. Something so casual it looked out of place in a building like this.
"Sorry Jake. I gotta go." Max said, getting up and giving Jake a quick fist bump.
Jake obliged.
"Sure. I'll talk to you later." Jake said with a smile. He did his hardest to keep his knuckles from letting go of Max's. Max smiled back briefly and took his leave.
Jake stared for a moment and laid back down. Now that Max mentioned it, he began to think of how he defeated Dao D.
Then it struck him...
"Oh no." Jake muttered to himself with a small blue drop of sweat rolling down his face.
A drop of sweat that suddenly turned to pitch black.
Once Max left the infirmary, he looked from side to side in the hallway leading to his teammates' new rooms. Then he pressed various keys on his red wrist watch.
As he kept typing, he could hear the faint sounds of Zack and Paulina arguing. Makes sense. Milten had taken it upon himself to fake both their deaths so secret identities wouldn't be a problem anymore. Sadly, Zack wasn't so keen on the idea.
He could also hear the faint sound of Luthor arguing with his wife over the phone in a nearby broom closet.
Seems Luthor wasn't in the mood for his identity being erased. He had a loving wife and two kids. Of course he'd still keep them around.
Max could still hear him being berated though. Probably from some lie about his "janitor" job.
Max then noticed he had finished typing what he needed. He then pressed enter and slowly began to fade out of reality.
And in just a few seconds, Max was nowhere to be seen.
Sadly, Max couldn't notice Stacya, swimming in the ground, holding a bucket of popcorn.
And what was worse, Stacya saw everything he did.
Later, Max stood in Milten's lounge in another part of Commonwealth far, far, far from Emerald City.
He looked around to see multiple wine bottles scattered on the floor and many old vehicle designs. Then he looked ahead to see Milten. He was sitting on a bean bag in front of a massive tank the size of the wall.
Inside the tank was a mutated Ivy.
"So he's awake?" Milten asked, reaching into a large bucket next to him and pulling out a fish.
"Yeah. Seems you were right. He didn't give a shit about the mission. Just his girl." Max said, watching Milten fidgeting with the fish like a child with a new toy.
He then threw it into the tank behind him.
The creature formerly known as Ivy swallowed it instantly.
"As expected. That's why I picked him after all. What did he say on this new black energy he summoned?"
"I asked. No answer. But if my theory is correct, if he really called upon black energy without Umbra's intervention..."
"...Then we could learn how to use shadow abilities like Side Step and Shade Walk without needing to shake hands with Umbra." Milten said enthusiastically.
"This could be HUGE." Milten said, grabbing a small chair and a drink from a nearby fridge.
"Yeah. You did good, Max. And it seems my friend here is happy to hear that." Milten said, pointing to a lanky man sitting on another bean bag.
Max immediately recognized that man.
His body tensed up and he slowly and unconsciously changed into a battle stance.
The figure didn't even bother to look at him.
He wore a large black robe covering everything. His arms, legs, face, everything. All that was visible was a lanky black blob of a man. A man Max knew too well.
The Head Priest of the Lost Light.
"Look, I know you two have history, but there's a reason why I called him here. Right, Priest?" Milten said, handing a drink over to the figure.
The high Priest said nothing. He simply looked over to the tank and stared at the snake-like monster like it was his pet.
It was his chance at getting the Baron back.
His hostage.
Soon, she will be of use to Lost.
Very soon.
Milten put the drink back.
"Now Max, I don't think you know why he's here or what connection he has with our plan..." Milten started, but quickly stopped when he realized Max wasn't even paying attention.
Max stared at the priest for several long seconds. This was the man who took him in after Mr E pumped him full of mutoxin. This was the man who helped him hone his abilities.
This was the man who sent Max to turn Jake into the Baron.
And this was the man who sold him back to Mr E when he failed.
Max tried his best to keep himself from charging him, pinning him down and ripping him limb from limb. It was one of his hardest battles, but a battle well fought.
Meanwhile, Milten smiled with a wide-eyed grin.
"Now I have my bargaining chip and my buyer. All that's left is the buyer to name his price." Milten said as nonchalantly as possible.
The Priest turned his attention to Milten and stared at him for several seconds. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black device.
"A Black reactor? How the hell did you get this?" Max asked in surprise, only to be answered in silence.
All the priest did was place his finger on his lip. A simple but clear gesture Max quickly obeyed.
All Max could think about was this man. Why was he here. What did he need Ivy for? Could he be here for the Baron inside Jake?
Then more questions flooded his mind. Milten's plan, what was it? Why didn't Milten tell him despite being his right-hand man?
And what the hell did it have to do with the Black reactor?
To be continued...