Remix: Cube

Archived Event: Cube

Max sipped from a water bottle while waiting in a lounge room. He wiped sweat off his brow with the towel draped over his shoulder. He was tired and very sore and he didn't think he could press on. 

So this what it feels like to be past your prime. 

"Man, that was intense," Goner said as he strolled over. His t-shirt was soaked through and he was starting to reek from sweat. "Best yet, I'd say."

Suki smiled from the corner where she sat tuning her guitar.

"Well, like wine one improves with age," Maggie said. She was sitting on the edge of a sofa teasing her hair. 

"Or turns into vinegar," Frank added after taking a long pull from a beer.

"You always have to see the negative in everything, don't you Frank," Goner said to him, shaking his head. "That's one thing that I didn't miss."  

Suki said, "Frank's just a realist." Then she started humming a melody.

"You know, I never thought I'd be back here today with you guys," Frank said. He was sitting on a director's chair, with a bucket of beer on ice beside him. "I think I'm getting too old for this kind of shit. But when an opportunity like this comes up, nostalgia kicks in."

"You'll never get old in my books," Angst said as she emerged from the bathroom. She was having trouble doing up the zipper on the back of her mini-dress. She turned her back to Max, who reached over and zipped her up. Angst noticed the tune that Suki was singing, saw her begin to pick out some notes on the guitar.

"Didn't you wear that in Vegas?" Aqua chided Angst. "Looks like the same one."

Aqua received only the finger from Angst.

"Getting bitchy in our old age, eh?" Aqua shot back at her with a smile. She dropped down into the corner beside Suki, listening to the quiet music coming from the instrument.

The door to the room opened up and Morganfokker strolled in. "I think you guys better get back out there. It's going to get wild if you don't."

Max nodded and he turned to the rest and said, "Let's rock." 

Goner ripped off his t-shirt and grabbed his drumsticks off the stand. "What's the encore going to be?"

Max noticed the song that Suki was playing. Everyone paused for a moment, all together again after so long, the faint roar of the crowd like a storm in the distance. They all listened to her play and looked at each other and nodded.

"Let's do something new," Max said. "Anyone got any new material?"

And Suki looked up with a huge smile on her face.

Remix: Into the Well of Darkness...

Archived Event: Into the Well of Darkness 

 
"You sure about this?" Goner inquired. He stood at the edge of the well and looked down; he was shaking off the unsure feeling. Of all the weirdness he had been through in the past few days, this was certainly unnerving. 

Joy scanned the treeline, shadows and branches and fog woven together. Menacing and spooky. She could tell that Goner was getting creeped out, so she put on a brave face and joined him at the well's edge. Gave him a playful tap with the barrel of her shotgun.

Max walked up beside them and glanced down. "The old lady said this was the way." Joy was pretty sure that Max sounded less-than-certain, and she hoped that Goner wasn't picking up on it.

Goner picked up a brick that was off to one side and dropped it over the edge; they watched the brick disappear into the darkness without a sound. Joy saw Goner shiver.

"I hope the hell you are correct with that old lady," Goner said. "I hope she didn't lead us into a trap. You know there could be that demon girl from that horror movie I watched waiting to feed on our souls." Joy could tell he was trying to make a joke, except given how the last few days had gone, it wasn't all that funny.

Max took a long puff from the cigarette; he exhaled the smoke into the air and then he flicked the cigarette off to one side. He was stalling. Joy had been through enough shifts with him to know that was a bad sign.

She holstered her shotgun over her shoulder and pulled out her phone. Tapped the screen. "There's this new app..." she said. "Measures the ectoplasmic vibrations of nearby spatial nodes that could indicate the presence of paranormal entities..."

Goner looked at Max. "Is she joking? Paranormal entities?"

Max said, "AKA Ghosts." He smiled and winked at Joy.

Goner looked at Joy. "You're joking, right?"

Joy looked up from her phone. "We're clear," she said. And shoved Goner into the well. Max nodded a thank-you and jumped in next. Joy unholstered the shotgun and jumped in after them.

Remix: A Realization In Time Saves Nine

Archived Event: A Realization In Time Saves Nine

The bullets zinged past him like angry hornets after a bear. Max stood there looking about the scenery, assessing the situation. Suki was firing the godhammer back at the pack of hellhounds down one hallway, while Mags did her dance among two dozen no-named mooks with the katana sending body parts parcel post. Frank watched it all from the van, studying the streaming feeds from the drone hovering just above Max.

He saw Max bring his hand to his face, staring intently at it. Frank tweaked the camera angle to get a better view - the Dragon Girls were in the thick of it, but something about Max was making Frank uneasy... He saw Max take the pointing finger from his right hand and slowly bring it to the palm of the left, and Frank saw Max's finger disappear into his hand. Like a magician amused at a parlor trick he did it a few times. Frank checked the feeds to make sure it wasn't a glitch in the camera.
 
Max muttered something, too low for the drone's mic to pick up, looking up at the ceiling, as if looking up from a table-top. Looking directly into the camera. He spoke again, louder. "Show yourself, you bastiche."

Frank toggled the panel-mic. "Max? Who are you talking to? What the hell just happened?" Then he saw the hellhound on the second camera feed, it managed to dodge the blast from Suki's weapon, it was leaping towards Max, Max was still staring at the drone, the strange look on his face, the hellhound's teeth like razors and fire...

"Max! Be here or don't be here but pick one!" Frank shouted into the mic.

Max blinked and spun and drew his guns.