DAY THIRTY 22:00PM

Yum 

They were sitting there in the diner, sipping coffee and chatting. It had been nearly 24 hours since the events had occurred. 

Max sat at the end of the table, close to the window.

His fingers drumming out the beat going through his head. He didn't know he was doing it, though it made for a ambient sound throughout the diner. The ashtray dancing on the table, adding a crystal cymbal sound now and then. Music was pumping through his veins. 

The waitress strolled over with a full coffee urn in her hands; she didn't even have to ask if they wanted more and she began refilling each of them.

Max, Simon, Riveta, Stone, Scorpio and Suki were all tired, going on 2 days without any real sleep at all. 

All of them knew that they had things to do and people to see but they could do that tomorrow. Right now, it was just time to sit back and enjoy each others company.

As the last of the coffee was refilled Max said, "Thanks, Alice." 

"No," the waitress replied with a smile and a wink; she began dropping creamers onto each of their saucers. "Thank you, Max."

DAY THIRTY 10:55AM

Homecoming

Father Donnelly drove the car down the dirt road, heading toward the chalet. He didn't want to do so, but it was what Suki had suggested. 

The morning sun was warm and inviting and his mind was flooding back to memories of the last month; it all had felt surreal like a dream. More akin to a nightmare.

Since his window was down, he thought he could hear the sound of children playing ahead. But that was impossible, since the fire... 

"How long have I been asleep?" a voice asked in the backseat; it startled the hell out of him.

"Mayganne?" Donnelly hit the brakes and he turned to see her lying in the backseat, covered in a blanket. 

"Yes?" Mayganne said as she sat up. She looked at Donnelly, trying to read his expression.

Donnelly's memories were like a tide, a floodgate of emotion, garble, transmissions of things that happened, or will happen or a dream of happening. "Well, how are you?" 

"I'm fine," Mayganne replied as she scrambled over onto the front seat. "But I sure could use a coffee."

DAY THIRTY 6:31AM

Newsflash

Click
... LEGACY building in the downtown core was the scene of what appeared to be an attack last night...

Click
... no new developments on what happened in the downtown core last night. It seemed there was an explosion which occure....

Click
... I'm standing here four blocks away from what happened last night. According to eyewitnesses, gun shots were heard and then there was an explosion...

Click
...me and my bros were grinding on a ramp near there then suddenly, like man, there was this school girl, she was like all ninja on three big metallic dudes...

Click
... this is not an act of terrorism. It was a major malfunction of a small nuclear generator which is used...

Click
... then suddenly this man is like all hanging there on the edge of the building, and this other fellow is holding him there. Then I guess he was firing at the guards, but they weren't guards... man they looked like those creatures that where in that movie with these dudes that had to walk to a mountain...

Click
... and we go back to Mally Katt who is on the scene. Mally?
That's right, Charlie. Reports are filtering in that this was in no way connected to what happened at their research facility a few weeks back. It's merely coincidental that...

Click
LEGACY stock has taken a drastic plunge this morning...

Click

DAY ----------- After School

Do You Remember When

The train pulled away from the station. The clatter of the tracks. The tunnel opening onto a sudden and bright view of the city. The long trip home. Same old same old. 

She rummaged around in her knapsack. Science textbook... nah. English textbook... nah. All the subjects came easy to her, she rarely needed to keep up with the reading. Her parents were proud of her, the other kids hated her.

Jiro had lent her a manga that he said was really cool. It was called 'The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya', about a bored girl who wanted to find aliens and time travelers and psychics. It sounded kinda dumb. 

So she zipped her pack up and stared out the window. The same view streaming past everyday. Same old same old.

Two wannabe-gangsters sprang from the seats down the aisle and started their approach. This wasn't anything new, either. Getting hassled was a regular part of the ride. She assumed her straight-face and tried to tune them out. 

She wasn't sure why she talked back today. Or even what she said. It just sorta happened, something clicked in her, like something shifted. And she insulted one of them.

She was so distracted by the odd click in her that she almost ignored the one who drew the gun. When she finally tuned in to the barrel hovering beside her face, she got scared. 

Then another guy was standing there, a white guy, with a t-shirt that said 'What the KLF?'. She had no idea what that meant. He said something to the thugs; she didn't catch it because she was trying to figure out what KLF meant.

The first guy turned the gun on the shirt-guy. 

The shirt-guy trapped his arm and forced the elbow to bend, angling the gun right at the second thug's face. The trigger stopped just in time. And in the frozen, shocked moment she jumped up from her seat and front-snap-kicked the gun-guy right in the head. 

The train pulled up at the next station. Doors hissed. Thugs ran off.

The shirt-guy looked down at her and smiled. "Nice working with you," he said. "My name is Max. What's yours?"