Laptopical

Max's finger tapped the side of the cup. He didn't realize that he was doing it, but when he heard the sound he stopped. He was sitting in the corner table at a diner, watching the door. His laptop was open in front of him and his finger hitting the arrow key as he was scrolling down the pages of various images.

"Isn't technology grand," the waitress said as she came over and refilled the coffee mug. "You have the entire world at your fingertips."

"Entire worlds," Max corrected her with a smile.

"So what is a fellow like you doing here alone on a Friday night?" the waitress asked; she was a young twenty-something girl and she was obviously flirting with Max.

He had started coming into the diner five weeks ago, every night around the same time and had brought his laptop with him. So she figured she'd make a move since he was obviously single.

"Waiting for a friend," Max replied, and he could see her look turn to a sort-of frown. "And then it's off to somewhere else."

"Oh," the waitress replied; she kept her friendly tone. Though she knew her luck was always bad and that she was cursed to be alone. She gave him a perky smile and headed off to the next booth where two gentlemen were sitting and chowing down on some food.

Max typed on the laptop. He typed in the name of the waitress, 'Kelli', and following, 'will win some money and live the cozy life'. He hit the Enter button and smiled.

After the Fall

Maggie looked to one side and spat out blood. The fall that should of killed her hadn't, but it did hurt a lot. She knew that she had taken some serious damage to her body.

That's not good.

She staggered off to one side and fell to her knees. Trying to catch her breath, she was fighting to breath and that hurt as well. As if millions of shards of tiny glass were circulating in her lungs.

Is this what it feels like to die?

She coughed again and more blood trickled out. She knew that if she didn't find a place to rest that the internal damage might cause major problems later one. She could feel her body trying to heal itself. It was one of the benefits of being a guardian; something she felt she had to do in order to protect the last haven.

Hurts like a bitch!

She crawled on hands and knees through the debris around her, until she saw a makeshift shack and crawled towards the little shelter. Time to rest and let the body do what it does naturally, healing itself as much as possible.

"Need my beauty sleep," Mags muttered to herself.

"Not here, toots," a gruffled voice said. "This is my hidey hole. Go find yourself another one."

Or-Din-Ar-Y

Max was waiting behind a pillar with his guns drawn, ready for action. The problem was that there was no action happening yet, but he was sticking to the plan. A perfect plan that was laid out a couple of hours before.

He was sitting there in the car port waiting. And several minutes ticked by like millenniums passing. Suki was a few yards away from him; he could see her behind a barrier, the Godhammer resting in her lap. She was bored as well.

But this wasn't a time or the place to be bored and let your guard down. Just then the elevator doors began to chime; Max straightened up. Soon it would be showtime. As soon as Suki heard the chime, she spat out the bubble gum and winked at Max.
 
A car was pulling into the parking garage; Max could hear a familiar riff of a Talking Heads song getting louder. He heard the music, the beginning of Burning Down The House. Suki heard it too, and she cracked a smile, and just as soon as the elevator doors opened, both went into action singing the song as it was being played; weapons blazing in a symphony of music.

Red Dawn Of The Dead

EXT. MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.
Sprawling terminals spread out from the building like legs of a spider.

ON THE TARMAC -

MAX, MAGGIE, ANGST, WRAITH, DEXTER, AQUA and PRECIOUS are strolling towards the terminal. PRECIOUS has an digital audio player on speaker. An old rockabilly tune is playing. Even though she is in her late 60's she still has a lot of spring in her step.

A WHITE VAN emerges from the darkness and pulls to a stop in front of them. RUSSIAN ENVOY DARVOS STANKOFF greets them.

STANKOFF:
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Russia. I'm Darvos Stankoff, special envoy to...

MAX:

It's been a long flight. Can you fill in the stuff you left off on the phone.

MAGGIE:
Forgive him Comrade Stankoff. Max gets a little irritable when he misses episodes of Spongebob.

STANKOFF:

I don't understand.

WRAITH:

Just cut to the chase, Stanky. Give us what you got.

Like Landing on the Moon for the First Time

Max suffered from disorientation, but he was used to it. His head felt like thousands of houseflies were crawling around in his brain. The wave had hit him hard this time around, and he could never shake that sensation. He thought that after all the shifts he'd gone through that he would have developed some sort of immunity to it, but he was wrong.

He lifted his head to try to find out where he was. To get a bearing on where he was and if he was in immediate danger.

"Okay fellow," a male voice asked. "Where and the hell did you just come from?"

"Long story," Max said as he sat up, still feeling the dizzying effects of the shift. "Where am I?"

"Well, we've got a long time," a female voice chimed in; she had a high cockney accent. "You better start talking the talk mister, or you'll be going to another place really soon."

"And fellow, you ain't going nowhere until we get answers," another male voice said, with a hint of a Texas drawl in it.

Max looked around and he noticed the group surrounding him. They were all standing in a living room. A blonde girl was looking at him warily. Across the room an older woman was staring at him with her hands on her hips and a cold look in her eyes. The first fellow who had spoken stood nearby holding a small object in his hands, keeping it pointed at Max. And the old fellow with the Texas drawl knelt beside him, patting him down.

"If I were you buddy, I'd start talking," the blonde said to Max.

"I wonder if he's a shifter?" the Texan asked another. "Like us, traveling the infinities."

Max's attention turned to the Texan.

"It's possible," the other fellow said.

Champions Do Eat Breakfast

Frank lowered the newspaper he was reading and peered over it. "Take it easy on breakfast buffet, Goner. You're not the only one here who likes breakfast."

They were sitting in a corner table inside Endless Griddle, enjoying a fine breakfast.

"Sorry, Frank," Goner said in-between bites. "I really don't know when I will eat a meal like this again. Besides, it's fucking delicious."

Max came back and sat down with his plate; he gave Goner a little double-take. It was like he was watching Shaggy attack a meal. Max didn't know where the kid was putting the food, but he figured Goner needed the nourishment.

"Make sure you come up for air," Frank told Goner.

"You getting anything, Frank?" Max asked the older fellow.

Frank folded the newspaper and stood up, grabbing his coffee cup. "Just sticking with coffee. I think Goner is eating for the both of us."

Max chuckled and began to eat his breakfast.

The Beginning of Something

EXT. ATLANTIC BOARDWALK - MORNING

It would be another day in Atlantic City, the crowds are beginning to wake and move about the boardwalk.

VENDORS are setting up their booths, preparing to sell their wares to those who have money to burn.

ANGLE ON - THE GOLDEN CHALICE CASINO

Exiting through the doors and walking onto the Atlantic Boardwalk are MAX, MAGGIE, FRANK & AQUA. Max is wearing pressed jeans and a white t-shirt with a bulls-eye over his heart and written underneath it is 'HIT THIS!' Maggie is dressed in black shirt and torn jeans. Frank in a hot pink shirt underneath a black jacket and black pants, while Aqua wears a cowboy hat, tropical shirt tucked into a denim skirt.

They look like they are ready for action. Walking with a purpose and scanning the crowds.

MAX
He's not there.

FRANK
He's got to be around here. Somewhere.

MAGS
Hopefully he hasn't bolted just yet.

MAX
He better not.

AQUA
Well, we have only 88 more minutes to find him.

MAGS
He's close by I can feel him.

Of Presents Given

The car traveled on throughout tunnels unknown and passing worlds of gone-by, should-have-been, the plurealities streaking past the windows all different but still looking the same.

Suki was waking from a little sleep. Her eyes flickering open like someone turning on a light switch. She turned her head and spotted two gifts on the seat beside her; she glanced around. She saw Max was up at the front of the car chatting with Bishop, who was leaning up against the door to his booth. Akimoto was stretched out on the seat in the back, and seemed to be taking in the downtime with a nap as well. 

The presents were wrapped with tender care and a tear welled up in her eye. Though, she knew it wasn't the sight of seeing the presents; it was the thought of them being beside her that made her happy. She had found a new family.

"Merry Christmas, Suki," Max and Akimoto echoed throughout the subway car.

The Cat in the Hat Came Back

"What's with the hat?" Trump asked Max. "Planning on putting the smack down on a couple of hookers?"

Max looked at Trump and said nothing. He and that cat didn't see eye-to-eye on much, but it wasn't a hateful relationship. It was something akin to brothers who don't agree very often. 

"Looks good though," Trump added and he went back to licking his paws. Max smiled.

Max had on a fedora; it had been given to him as a gift and he felt like he had to wear it. Suki had seen it at a store and picked it up for him. When she presented it to him she told Max, "You call me Shortround I will kick you."

Art Imitating Life Imitating Art

INT . SUBWAY - DAY

MAX, SUKI & AKIMOTO are on the platform. Max is leaning up against a pillar, smoking a cigarette. He is wearing a red t-shirt declaring "Pick Me Kirk!". Akimoto is dressed in a tropical shirt and torn jeans; he is sitting at bench reading a comic book. Suki is sitting on the floor; she is tracing patterns on the tile.

SUKI
I'm bored. How long are we going to wait here?

MAX
As long as it takes

SUKI
This sucks. We should be kicking butt by now.

MAX
Suki, be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

Akimoto looks up from his comic and flips a page. The action on the comic book seems to mirror what just went on between Suki and Max. Akimoto shrugs and goes back to reading... On the first panel is the sound of a train. 

Sound of a train approaching.

SUKI
Hope our car is on this one.

MAX
It could be.

Akimoto looks at the comic book again and at Suki and Max and then he flips the page to see something hideous on it. Cut to Akimoto's eyes widening in horror. He drops the comic and grabs his sword.

Camera pans into the comic book and onto a frame in which Max asks Akimoto:

MAX
What is it?

Cut to other panel in which Akimoto turns and faces Max:

AKIMOTO
Something spooky.

The Cards Be Calling

Mags was in a sunny room with others; she was seated on the floor with a cup of tea by her side and a deck of cards in front of her. But they weren't an ordinary deck of cards; they were cards with some symbols and other pictures on them. She was drawing the cards out and looking at them and then putting them down as part of a pattern.

"What are you doing?" Kia asked.

Mags looked at her and cocked an eyebrow. "If you have to ask then you're to ignorant to know." Then she went back to draw the next card and look at it. Pondering the implication of what the card was telling her. 

"Now, now Maggie," a nurse scorned Mags. "We gave you those cards to calm you down, we can just as easily take them away from you."

Mags looked up at the nurse and cocked an eyebrow and added a wry smile to it, as if challenging the nurse to come and do what she had threatened to do.

T-Minus...

"You set?" Max asked Maggie. He could tell that she was in state of preparedness.

Maggie nodded, then added, "Ready when you are, sweetie."

"Soon. Very soon now," Max replied; he was transferring cigarettes from a cardboard pack into a solid tin. "I can feel it now."

Killer Instinct

Maggie walked towards the door to the complex, still feeling uneasy that something sinister was in the air. She took a precautionary glance, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, and then proceeded to the door.
 
That's when she felt something hit her in the back the head. She paused, momentarily stunned, and brought her hand to her head and felt liquid. The impact was enough to stagger her, falling on a knee. Turning to see Frank standing there; he had been hiding in the shadows, waiting for her.

He looked at her and nodded.

How dare he, Mags thought, her body filling with emotion. After all I did for him.

Frank walked closer to her, his hands clasped behind his back. He was dressed in black, his killer wardrobe.

"Why?" Maggie asked.

"Because," Frank replied coolly. "It's my nature."

Maggie leaned forward to control her stance. She was like a deer caught in the headlights of an approaching semi.

"Max will avenge me," she said.

"Not before I get him," Frank replied. He stopped 15 feet away from her.

She was scanning around and taking in all her options. She knew that she was caught off-guard, blindsided because she was taking things too slack. She was caught off her guard and now she was paying the price.

"I hope you don't hold it against me," Frank said. "After all, you knew who I was in the beginning."

His face cracked into a vicious smile as he brought up the second snowball.