Chronicles of the Supers (Book 1): Born From Darkness (The Story of Max) (10 page)

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.

"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.