Before the ReAwakening

Max looked up at the screens and sighed. There had to be more than life then sitting behind a desk and watching empty halls in a building. He looked down upon his name tag and shuddered. 

There was something wrong and he could sense it, but he really couldn't quite put his finger on it. For the past few days he had this nagging feeling of being watched, studied like a rat in a maze and he really couldn't understand why.

"Your turn," Kent told him, snapping Max out of his thought process. It seemed like whenever he got to this thought process something would happen to snap him out of it.

"What are you doing anyways?" Kent asked. "Thinking of some hot chick?"

"No," Max replied; he slipped into his boots. "Just going off on a tangent. I guess."

"Well, you can go back to it once you finish your rounds," Kent stated with a wink.

"Kay," Max said; he got up and took his flashlight. "Be back in 45 minutes."

"Not unless," Kent said and he drew his forefinger across his heck. "You know we are the expendables."

Max chuckled and headed out the door. In every movie security guards were slain in the beginning of a plot, or when the heroes tried to do something in a museum and the bad guys come in, or a monster chews them up good.

He walked down the hallway.

Morganfokker looked up from the stasis tube where a body floated like a specimen in a jar; he tapped the glass and a smile cracked his face. Then he turned and approached the assistant.

"How is he taking to the stimuli?" Morganfokker asked.

The assistant glanced over at the monitor and then down at a flimsy sheet. "Just like predicted. His neural patterns are low. He's actually bored, like projected."

"Good," said Morganfokker. "He's just about prepared for his assignment."

I Would Run Right Into Hell And Back

"I love you," Maggie told him.

"I love me too," Max replied.

The next thing Max saw were stars and then he fell to the floor like a tree struck by lightning.

Signals Sent

Goner entered the room and saw Frank and Max sitting at the kitchen table with a small device; it looked like one of those crystal radio kits you buy at a store. The radio was tuned to a classical station and Mozart was emanating from the speakers, which made Goner cringe. He hated that type of music.

"What you doing?" Goner asked after he opened the fridge and got a cola out.

"Influencing the past," Frank replied; he didn't look up from what he was doing. His left hand was on a keyboard while his right hand held a thin stick and his head was tilted to one side of a makeshift speaker.

Max just gave Goner a wink as he sipped from his coffee mug.

"Really now?" Goner said as he sat down at the table. "And how are we doing that?"

Frank replied with a smile, "Simple if you know what your doing."

Max let a chuckle slip from his lips.

"Well, time is a illusion, like ripples in water and I am just skipping some signals into the mix," Frank replied. "I was just showing Max here how slight signals sent back in time could influence the present. Sending flashes back into time, until the signal is caught and understood."

"Is it working?" Goner asked. "I see that you are listening to music and have a mic up to the speakers?"

Frank reached over and turned the classical station off and hit a top 40 station. A song was playing and then Frank's fingers danced on the contraption, holding the mic close to the speakers. He could hear some tween queen sing lyrics of a song trying to be more sexy than her age, and the beat was funky as well.

"Listen closely," Frank said.

Goner listened to the song as it was being played. Saw Frank's left hand dance across the keyboard, the stick in his hand, hitting a few tiny switches on the board, and that's when Goner heard the slight difference emanating from the radio.

"Whoa!" Goner said.

} Messages in the Black - for T.B.

Max walked across the street. Plopped several bills onto the counter and took 13 random newspapers off the shelf. He walked into a nearby cafe and promptly sat down; he signaled for a coffee and then proceeded with opening up the first paper.

"Now that's strange," said Maude; she had just gotten back from a wedding for which she had taken a week off.

Gladys looked up from the magazine she was reading and spotted Max. "Yeah, he's been coming in ever other morning with a stack of newspapers."

"Any idea why?" Maude asked.

Gladys shrugged and went back to her magazine. "Just bring him an ashtray and keep refilling his cup and he will leave you a nice tip."

"But didn't we go no smokin..." Maude began but promptly shut up and did what she was told.

He opened up the paper to a random page. Looked down at a word and then took a pen and circled it and jotted it down off to one side and then he did the same with the other papers. The waitress gave him a curious glance as he constantly opened up the newspaper at random pages and circled a word.

She glanced over his shoulder as she set the cup down and noticed what he had written: FIND TABLE MARKED WITH SYMBOL GANGLAND... Which she thought was weird but made kind of sense.

The Countdown

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT - DAWN

MAGGIE sits at the kitchen table. MAX is leaning up against the counter. He's got a cigarette and a coffee mug beside him. Coffee mug has a slogan on it stating "Be Prepared!"

MAX:
You know what this means.

MAGGIE:
That I do.

MAX:
I think it's the only course of action we have to take at the moment.

Maggie looks up into the eyes of Max. Max looks like he has thought this one out, looks like he hasn't slept in a long while.

MAGGIE:
So when do you think?

MAX:
Soon. Very Soon.

EXT. BUILDING ROOF ACROSS FROM MAX'S APART- DAWN

A figure in black is lying close to the edge with a listening device.

MAGGIE (V.O):
Okay then.

MAX (V.O)
Let's hope that I'm not wrong about this.

INT. MAX'S APARTMENT - DAWN

MAGGIE:
Then we shall see. Make the call.

Max reaches for the phone.

A Book is a Book

Control walked into the conference room and threw down a children's book in front of the trio that was sitting at a table. The trio looked at the book and then at Control, who took a seat.

"What's this?" inquired one.

"It's a book," Control replied. "It's a good read."

One of the gentlemen turned the book to read the title. It was a preschool Prince-Fish Book. The title read 'Cube'.

"Go on," Control urged; he sat back in the chair and folded his arms. "Skim through it and read."

The trio looked up and then at the book and one of the fellows opened it up. The illustrations were manga-ish but done in pencil style.
 
Max & Maggie
by Tym Billion
Illustrated by Dan Synnik

Max likes shooting. He shoots well.
He could shoot the moon like William Tell.

Maggie likes fencing. She fences well.
Her katana is like a symphony as you could tell.

Trump likes meowing. He meows well.
The talking cat likes to complain as you can tell.

Goner likes sitting. He sits by the well.
When he's not sitting, he's got secrets to tell. 
One of the trio closed the book after skimming the first several pages and asked, "What does this mean?"

"It means," Control said. "that we've moved into another territory."