DAY TWENTYFOUR 21:00PM

To Everything There Is A Time

Stone turned off the ignition. Three blocks ahead of him, the skyscraper rose up into the night. The low clouds were glowing with the dull-orange of reflected light from the city. It looked the sky was about to combust. 

He could feel the fire inside him. Looking at the tower. The smooth black glass. The logo of the LEGACY Corporation. He was burning inside.

What terrible things were happening inside right now? The terrible things he had read about on the laptop. And then things Max had shown him yesterday. 

He didn’t regret contacting him.  He already knew the world was a bad place – the job had taught him that – but Max had shown him just how bad. Stone wanted to know, though: it’s why he had become a detective. So he could learn the true ways of the world.

They were so much stranger and so much darker than he ever imagined. 

Maybe that’s what started the fire inside him. Or maybe it had been smoldering for years. Too many years of crime scenes, of blood and ashes, of the powerful abusing the weak, of the system brutalizing the wounded.

So it had all come down to an open investigation and a laptop, a mind-bending conspiracy and a man named Max. 

He knew how things really worked now, what sorts of crimes were really being committed. Entire lives and worlds used in nameless agendas. Experiments, violations, nightmares. Secrets that could save the world and make fairy tales come true hoarded and corrupted for greed and terror.

So now he had to do something about it. 

He turned the key. The car started. The flames in him flickered.

The car moved down the street towards the skyscraper. 

Stone glanced at the cell phone in the passenger seat. Riveta’s number was cued up.

His sidearm was beside it. The fire surged. 

He approached the tower.

DAY TWENTYFOUR 17:51PM

Ashes Of Immortality

It had been a long day of tracking and hunting, thousands of leads and yet nothing. Simon was exhausted. He opened up the door to his apartment and the first thing he could smell was cigarette smoke. 

He quickly slipped into the room and closed the door behind him, and took out his revolver.

Silently, like a panther, he walked along the edge of the wall toward the kitchen. His nostrils could pick up the scent of coffee as well. 

He did a quick glance into the kitchen and saw no one, but he could feel the breeze coming through an open window somewhere in his apartment.

On the kitchen table sat a smoldering cigarette and a cup of coffee from the local franchise. Whoever was here had sat down, had a smoke, and raided his fridge.

DAY TWENTYFOUR 10:43AM

Samsara 

Pretty George sighed. "Honestly Suki..." 

Suki took a sip from the tea. "I figured your place would be more cluttered." She looked around at the small apartment. Dust in the corners, stains on the floor. A fly buzzing in the kitchenette. She had sent the reverend and her sidekick out for sandwiches; Pretty looked like he could use a meal.

He sighed again. "You're trying to change the subject." 

Suki looked squarely at him. "It's a reflex I have when I feel I'm about to be disappointed."

Pretty held her gaze. She looked good, she looked healthy. She had always seemed so aloof, cold even, when she was young. Initiated so early. The edge was still there, maybe even sharpened, but it was sheathed in something a little softer now. He had no idea where Suki had been all these years, but it seemed to agree with her. 

"Why are you back?" he asked her.

"Now you're changing the subject." 

"You haven't been in the game for a while now. I can tell. You look too happy."

"I was happy when I was playing too," Suki said, perhaps a little defensively. 

"That feeling you felt, that wasn't happiness and you know it. That rush, that charge. Purpose, yeah. Power, yeah. Strangeness, definitely. Mana maybe. But it wasn't happiness."

"Meeting Max was the best thing that ever happened to me," Suki said. 

"Me too," Pretty said. "And the worst."

They each took a sip of their tea. Pretty listened to the sound of the buzzing. Suki glanced about the dingy room. Things felt heavy. 

"Fine," Pretty said. "I'll get it for you."

DAY TWENTYFOUR 10:03AM

Countdown To Eternity

Suki rapped on the door once again. This time a little louder, a little more impatiently. Father Donnelly had donned a hooded sweater, looking more like a homeless beggar than the regal priest that he was. 

"You sure he's here?" Scorpio asked. He was constantly scanning the alleyway. He didn't like having too many blind spots. "You trust him."

"With my life on many occasions," Suki replied; she banged on the door again. 

"Keep your pants on," a hoarse voice shouted.

"Yeah, he's here," Suki said with a smile as she heard some movement inside. 

The sound of a keyboard, plus several bolts sliding from their safeties, as a door opened up partial.

"Suki?" a gruff looking man asked. Looked like he was just getting out of bed. "Suki! Sweet Jesus it is you!" 

"Sorry to bother you, Pretty, but I need your magick touch," Suki said. She looked over at the others in her party. "We need your help!"

DAY TWENTYTHREE 19:32PM

Love is a Battlefield

Simon was startled awake by the sound of his cell phone. He fumbled for it in the pocket of his jacket, the room spinning as he shifted from a deep sleep into waking. Just as he snapped the phone open he slipped off the edge of the couch. 

"Ouch. I mean, hello?"

"Simon, what's up?" 

"Hey Alison, how's it going?"

Simon pushed himself back onto the couch. Ghosts of the dream were still swirling around in his mind's eye. Alison's voice sounded far away. A huge cathedral, bizarre patterns in stained glass, a choir singing then screaming... 

"... so I, well, I thought you might like to come," she said.

"Sorry, where again?" 

"Were you sleeping?" she asked, teasingly. "It's not even 8 yet."

"Yeah... That is pretty pathetic, isn't it?" 

Alison's voice went gentle. "Your current case is a tough one..." She always understood. She was one of the few people who even had a hint of the kind of work he did; she never pushed and always supported. Right now though, he couldn't handle it. Couldn't let himself be comforted. It stung.

"Yeah, listen Al. I really do need to catch up on some sleep." 

Something about the sounds and images echoing from the dream. Something about the case maybe. His superiors had been understanding too, after the raid at the motel. They didn't expect miracles from him, especially when it was clear Fujimoria and her collaborators were extremely talented. But their understanding had made him bristle too.

He needed things to be sharp. He needed to feel forged. He was standing on the edge of something. He needed to be ready to jump. 

"Sure Simon, that's cool."

"Listen Al, I'm sorry, it's just-" 

"No worries. Maybe next weekend..."

DAY TWENTYTHREE 17:44PM

The Forgotten

Scorpio was sharpening some knives as he sat at the table, a blade against a whetstone. He could sense that there was going to be a whole world of trouble. 

He was trying to figure something out, but he couldn't. He really didn't know what was going on and why he was doing what he was doing now.

All he knew was that a war was coming. A hard war. A long war. A war to end all wars. 

"So what's the plan?" he asked of Suki, who was sipping a coffee.

"First we find out what happened to Mayganne," she said. 

"Mayganne?" Scorpio said. He knew that he should know that name. He couldn't place her though; it was like waking up from a dream and trying to remember the dream itself.

Suki's face went blank, and Scorpio didn't like that one bit. 

"Nerts," she whispered.

Father Donnelly stepped from the washroom, drying his hands on a towel. "What's going on?" 

Suki turned to the priest and said, "Father, this may seem like a weird question..."

"After what we've been through, weird is just a norm now," he said with a slight chuckle. 

"Do you know a girl named Mayganne?" Suki asked. She stood up from the table and walked towards the window.

"Mayganne?" Donnelly replied. He paused for a few moments trying to recall the name. "I'm not too sure."

DAY TWENTYTHREE 12:14PM

Ascension Status

It was cold and wet and he sat on the ground. 

Max sat naked, fingers clenched and resting on his knees. He was surrounded by 13 empty coffee mugs, with 13 candles burning inside them. Sitting on 13 packs of cigarettes.

Music filtered in from the car speakers on the roadside. He wasn't cold but he wasn't sure exactly what he felt like. His eyes closed. He hummed along with the music. 

A breeze began to swirl around him, and he let out a breath of smoke. It danced with the swirl.

"Hey mister are you... Holy shit," someone called from the highway.

DAY TWENTYTWO 20:31PM

Memorandum for the Record

Stone closed the laptop, rubbed his chin and let out a long breath. It sounded more like a sigh of relief; the way a jogger feels after partaking in a marathon. 

He had brought the laptop home; he didn't even say boo to anyone about it. Not even to his partner, Riveta. He wanted to see things for himself first.

He got up and walked over to the coffee machine and poured himself another cup. As he poured he stared at the cup and he shuddered. 

If this Max Cube was a crackpot, like the files suggested, then he shouldn't be worried at all. But... things were beginning to make a hell of a lot of sense and he was starting to see the line that Max was drawing.

He couldn't shake that feeling after seeing, reading, hearing the testimonies of a what was likely a madman, except that there was documentation to verify certain events. 

And for some strange reason he was getting a sense of deja vu again and it made him shudder.

DAY TWENTYONE 10:23AM

Breathe

Alice's eyes opened wide, she let out a sharp breath. Hank, keeping a vigil by her side, snapped to attention. 

He clasped her hands, seeing that they were warm.

"Oh Max," she said as soft as a butterfly's flutter. Her eyes weren't staring at the ceiling, but beyond. Hank's anger showed at the mere mention of his name. "You're... you truly... are a magnificent bastard..." 

Before Hank could say anything, Alice looked at him and she smiled and she closed her eyes and breathed out one last time. And in the blink of an eye she was gone.

DAY TWENTYONE 2:17AM

Quarantine

Max sprawled on the bed, exhausted. Finally ready to try and sleep. He rolled over one last time to check the cigarette was butted out properly. Pain was under the pillow. And the cellphone was on the nightstand.

It hadn't rung in 24 hours. He had said they could call him if it was an emergency, but after what he discovered in the research facility, before he blew the place up... 

I'm sorry Alice. Angst would have been really proud of you. 

He couldn't see her again. Or even risk exchanging words. He had no idea how the infection was transmitted. He could try and keep them safe from LEGACY though. Hopefully his clue for the detectives would trigger them to contact whoever LEGACY had on his trail now. And he would have another target. 

24 hours. Maybe it was already all too late.

Max closed his eyes. There was always a little time left for payback.

DAY TWENTY 21:38PM

Ritualistic

Max let the music envelop him. He was one with the muses now, the beat taking control. Unwinding, curling, the hardcore bassline replacing his soul. 

He was lost in the dance amongst the beautiful people. A disc spinner spinning out hardcore gabber music. Max was surrounded by others lost to the music, bodies writhing like a tribal dance, in fact it was just that and he was enjoying it.

DAY TWENTY 21:37PM

Invisible Orchestras

Father Donnelly got the change ready. Suki pulled up to the drive-thru window. She took the tray of drinks, passed the money from the reverend to the guy in uniform. 

As the car pulled away, Suki said, "I'm sorry."

Donnelly popped the lid on his tea and took a sip. "I appreciate the apology, but... Well, you put our lives at risk." 

Suki drove out onto the road. Scorpio was quiet in the backseat, napping or maybe meditating.

The Father continued, his voice calm but with an edge to it. "What if they had moved on us sooner? Before he removed the implant? How would you have apologized over the sound of that SWAT team shooting-first-and-asking-questions-later? Remember I've seen these cells of theirs at work before, too." Of course he had survived then, thanks to Max. Of course it was thanks to Max that they were after him in the first place. 

"That wasn't LEGACY at the motel. They won't use another cell. Max has been burning their fingers every time they reach out to grab him, so they will go to an outside source. They'll be trying to exploit Max's reluctance to retaliate against uninitiated players. That's why I let those boys-and-girls-in-blue live back there."

Donnelly hadn't been sure that she was going to. Watching from the shadows as the armored van swerved into the parking lot, as the soldiers spilled forth and stormed the room they had been in only moments before. She had taken that strange gun out of her satchel and it had started to glow... But once Suki had identified the team leader, she got them out of there, quick and quiet. 

"I feel sorry for you," Donnelly said. "That you have to think like this. 'Players'... My God, the life you must lead."

Suki glanced at him, a flicker in her eye like a whip about to crack. The younger girl she had heard on the phone earlier today would have said something nasty to the priest. A mean comeback. Things were different now. She looked back at the road. 

Donnelly could tell Suki was honestly trying. And he knew that he was trying to provoke her, letting his stress pull his leash. He was worried about the church, about the sudden shifts, about Mayganne. He tried to keep his voice relaxed. "Okay, explain to me how that near miss back there helped us."

Suki took a sip from her coffee. Before Max she had never tried the stuff. 

"Max will be hunting his hunters. Now we know who that is."

DAY TWENTY 20:00PM

Prelude To Extinction

"How'd you know?" Scorpio asked Suki. She had her back turned and was looking at the window. That last call had taken her for a loop; she had been talking to her younger self. Or a version of her that was of her younger self. But, she had thought she heard the rattle of a subway car as well. 

Father Donnelly was sitting on the edge of the bed, reading something from the drawer. It was a Gideon Bible. It was a comfort thing, since he knew everyone falls back onto a device they know in times of trouble.

"You knew," she said. "But, it's been a part of you for a long time, you'd just forgotten about it." 

"So what you're saying is that you knew all along that they were on to us?" Donnelly asked. He stood up and dropped the bible down on the bed.

"Frank was LEGACY as well," Suki said in a fond recollection. "We didn't know until FACTOR VERIFY that it was embedded." 

"Then why did you let it continue?" Scorpio asked. He held the bloody knife in his hands.

"It was the only way to find Max," Suki said.