Bingo Day.

"Morning Max," the woman said as she entered the room. Her smile was fake like a sharks. She strolled across the floor and opened the curtain to let the morning sun brighten up the darkened room.

"What day is it?" Max replied. His voice raspy with age.

"It's Tuesday," she replied. "And you know what that is. It's bingo day!"

The woman was dressed in blue slacks and a flowery shirt, she wore a name tag that declared her to be Mary Sue and that she was a Nurse-Practitioner.

"Bingo day," Max repeated. His mind was foggy and cloudy and he wanted a smoke.

Mary Sue made sure all the curtains were open and that the room was bright and vibrant. Max turned away from the window and brought up the blankets. He could feel the bones ache and creak. Snap. Crackle. Pop.

"Aw, c'mon Max," Mary Sue said as she approached. "There's some nifty new prizes this time around. She checked the pitcher that was on the wheeled table by the bed and saw that it was empty, so she picked it up and went to the bathroom to run the water.

Max brought up his hands, rippled with arthritis and liver-spotted as well, grabbed his glasses off the nightstand and fumbled to put them on his face. He had a hard time remembering where he was and what he was doing, sometimes his memory would flash back to events in his life; or what he thought was his life, could have been a movie he saw and liked but things were blurred now. His reality was here and now.

"There you go, Max," Mary Sue said as she plopped the pitcher of water on the little table. "I'll go and get some more ice for you."

"Thanks," Max replied. He reached for the control for the bed and adjusted it up. He could smell the aroma of food floating down the hallway. Breakfast was being prepared. He wasn't hungry but he did crave a cigarette and a coffee.

"Here. Let me help you," Mary Sue said as she fluffed up his pillow and adjusted the bed so he was sitting up some. "I'll be right back with the ice. Do you want a juice?"

"A coffee," he stated.

"You know you can't have that now," she told him. "Doctor's orders!"

Max was about to say something to her but then it slipped through, like rain through a screen. He tried to swing his feet over and couldn't move them. Pain wracked his body, he noticed the iv drip by his side and then he caught himself in the mirror at the door to his washroom.

There was a rap on the door and a woman entered, in her late 40's or early 50's and she looked radiant as ever. Behind her was a young fellow as well who was listening to an ipod, he seemed to be in his teens.

"Maggie," Max said.

"No Dad," the woman said. "It's me Peri."

She was the spitting image of Maggie. Long flowing hair, eyes sharper than diamonds on velvet.

"Peri?" Max replied. His memory searching and he seemed to recall her.

"Yes," Peri replied; he could see the hurt look in her eyes. She knew that he couldn't recall her at all.

"You were on the subway with us weren't you?" he asked her.

"No, dad," she replied matter-of-factly to him. "That was another lifetime ago."

"Yes, you were Maggie," he said stubbornly. This time he could see the hurt look in Peri's eyes.

There was a moment of awkward silence, music could be heard from the headphones of the young lad beside her. He also seemed to recall the young lad, but couldn't place him as well. These things were getting tough.

Darius... no... Dex... no... Goner... it was something.

Peri turned to the young lad. "Derek, would you take those off and visit with your Poppa."

Derek did what he was told. He took the headphones off and wrapped them up on his ipod and put it on the table. The young lad looked fetching in his jeans, bright yellow shirt with the words Obey written in red with an X over it. He looked like him.

Mary Sue entered the room once again with a pitcher of ice. "Oh, good morning Peri!"

"Good morning Mary Sue," Peri answered.

"And who is this fine strapping lad that you brought with you?" Mary-Sue inquired, as she poured the ice cubes.

"This is my son, Derek. He's home from college," Peri said.

"My what a strapping young lad he is," Mary Sue stated. "He looks like a younger version of Max here."

Max struggled to remember. "What day is this?"

"It's Tuesday, Max," Mary-Sue told him. "It's Bingo Day."

Derek smiled and didn't say much at all, he glanced around the room and then whispered to his mother that he was going out for a smoke and maybe grab a coffee.

"Black with two sugars," Max told him.

"Now, now," Peri told him. "You know you shouldn't be drinking coffee."

"I can do as I damn well please," he scolded her. The nerve of this woman telling him what he could do. "Are you Legacy?"

Mary Sue brought Peri aside and they seemed to be in conference; Max could only get a glimpse of what they were talking about over the music that was emitting from the headphones. Some techno beat song, that made him drum his fingers on the table.

"His dementia is getting worse isn't it?" Peri asked the nurse.

Mary Sue didn't say a word but nodded. "I'll let Dr. Fischer tell you more of his progress; he wants to chat with you."

"He's 88 years old," Peri said to her. "He lived a rough life."

"Rumour has it that he was a secret agent of sorts," Mary Sue said. "Though some of the stories he has told seem to be straight out of science-fiction."

"That's my father alright," Peri replied. "The teller of tall-tales." 

"Dr. Fischer is in his office now," Mary Sue said and Peri nodded.

"Dad," Peri said to Max. "I'll be right back, I'm going to talk with the Doctor."

"Bring me a cigarette and a coffee please," he said.

"I'll see what I can do," she lied. And both her and Mary Sue went out the door.

Max was trying to remember her and knew her, the music filtering in from the headphones seemed to drive a beat, unlocking rhythms in his brain. Clearing a path of sorts. With his crippled hands he reached for the device; unraveled the headphones and plugged them into his ears.

Dexter was listening to Classic Hits of Gen X (Songs Your Grandparents Danced To) and it was a Crystal Method song that he had listened to many, many times before.

This transmission is coming to you.

He closed his eyes and let the music flow, and it seemed to get louder and louder in his head. His fingers drumming out the beat on the table. Seemed to move more freely and more agile at the moment.

This transmission is coming to you.

Eighty years of memories were unlocking now, breaking through the damn of dementia as neural passageways which where damaged by age and time began to open and flow freely. Max felt the music, a floodgate of emotions and torrents of memories washing over him like The Maid of The Mist at Niagara Falls.


"We've got it!"

He sat up; this was just what the doctor ordered. He remembered it all, he remembered everything and when he opened his eyes he saw Derek standing there in the room his eyes widening in what looked like a state of shock.

"Who are you?" Derek asked. Seeing the young man laying in bed with his headphones.

Max saw his reflection in the door of the mirror and saw a youthful reflection, a glow over his body, a shining beacon of sorts.  Derek dropped the coffee he was holding and the liquid spread across the floor. Max remembered it all, how he became trapped in this reality and didn't shift with the others, how he learned to live and adjust and eventually marry a woman who resembled someone he loved. Maybe it was her, that had helped him adjust to this world.

He had been trapped in this reality for a long time now. He had been here in this reality for over 50 years. He could feel the wave approaching, he was shifting and he knew it.

Max turned to his grandson and smiled. "Can you give Peri a message from me?"

The youth just nodded in disbelief.

"Tell her..." he started and paused because he didn't know what to say. "Tell her 'Bingo!'"

And that's when he disappeared in a blinding flash of light.

REALTIME PICS

At the Diner - Max, Suki, Scorpio, Riveta, Stone

Outside the Diner - Max and Simon

Selfies - Donnelly and Mayganne / Suki

Max and Suki discuss who is driving.

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?"

DAY TWENTYNINE 23:17PM

Trust

With the section of the building crumbling away, Max knew that he was in serious trouble. He didn't have enough footing or enough time to make it to safety. 

He was sliding away, falling with the section of 13 other storeys, until an arm reached out and grabbed his wrist. Simon had slid on his back toward the edge, firing uzis and dropping guards, dropping one and reaching over the edge and grabbing Max's wrist.

DAY TWENTYNINE 23:05PM

Resuce Me

Stone and Scorpio were back to back. Firing at anything and everything that seemed to move. Their heads were clear, they seemed to have one focus. Kill or be killed, die now and the universe with them. 

Bullet casings dropped about them like a torrential rain.

DAY TWENTYNINE 22:59PM

Unplugged

THWOOOOUUUUUUM.

The telepath didn't know what hit her. The world shattered around her, as the stasis case she was floating in disintegrated and a huge section of her head disappeared as well. 

"Telepath that, bitch!" Suki said. Her arm was dimming now from a brilliant blinding light to a dull reddish glow.

DAY TWENTYNINE 22:47PM

Scan

Upon the breach of the Citadel-class complex housed within the Tower, a telepathic surveillance sweep was automatically directed towards the infiltrators, for highspeed analysis and distribution to grafted security personnel, for exploitation and counter-tactical responses.

Target A: Josiah Stone
...stopthesesonofbitchesputanend totheirsicktwistedbullshitcomingforyou paybacktimenomoreyoubastardsnomore...

Target B: Sandrine Riveta
...keeptightstayonhisflanknot gonnalosehimagainbreathesteadyinhale triggerexhaleitsjustspecialeffects psyopshitdon'tletitfreakyououtstay onstoneyou'llgetthroughthis...

Target C Milton 'Scorpio' Reddings
...iknowyou'rereadingmymindright nowiknowallaboutyoubecauseiwasyoubut thingsaredifferentnowshesavedmeand we'regoingtosavethemandyoucan'tstopus...

Target D: Simon Light
...it'shappeningreallyhappening theachetheholeinmeit'sclosingthisisitf inallyaftersolongohalisonifyouonlyknew whatwe'redoingwe'regoingtodoitthank youmax...

Target E: Max Cube
...hib4u34847hfi44jhbdf4i4908atf ar232fbedej3i9iedi3u3j3j3bci33903938w jwhddkuwgcdcjn...

DAY TWENTYNINE 22:22PM

The Kansas City Shuffle

"I can't believe it worked," Max said. He was behind a pillar and smiled like a wolf in a field full of sheep. 

"What did we do?" Simon asked. He was dressed in black, and had painted a pattern on his face. Max had told him to draw something on his face, something that he felt comfortable with. On his forehead he drew a simple picture of a bunny.

Riveta was tearing off strips from a shirt she had taken off, a tank-top on underneath, and was making field bandages. The last time she saw heavy combat was in the Middle East. 

"One day someone is going to sit down and explain it all to me?" she asked as she glanced at both Simon and Max. Today was a day full of surprises for her.

"Suki, Suki, Suki," Max said. "That little minx just saved us from killing a lot of innocent men who were just trying to do their jobs." 

Simon chuckled. They had phased through the city, Suki somehow piloting them with a device that created, from his understanding, a "pocket universe".

To Simon something familiar was going on but he didn't know what it was. He was getting the feeling of deja vu. That's when a hail of bullets started to rain down upon them and began chipping away at the concrete barrier. 

"I think our welcome has been noticed now," Riveta said, as she could hear the uniform movement of feet. "Well, I'm glad we got as far as we did!"

"You know, Max, you sure do know how to have a good time!" Simon said as he fired a few rounds.

DAY TWENTYNINE 22:00PM

The Alpha Move

Logollos was more than just sweating, he was anxiously waiting for the snake to show itself and be skinned once and for all. 

There was silence. Too quiet. Even though the squads about were trained professionals they were getting antsy as well. Having been alerted to a potential threat they had been on high energy, and nothing resulting from it

"Only two more hours to go?" the woman asked. "Are you sure they will be here?" 

"Yes," Logollos said. "They are playing the waiting game."

"Don't you think that's a foolish move on their part?" the woman inquired. She butted out a cigarette in an ashtray, there were two dozen butts there already. "This is a childish last desperate act, isn't it?" 

Logollos chuckled to himself, and then his eyes widened with realization.

DAY TWENTYNINE 21:32PM

Prophecies and Eulogies

Max lit a cigarette. Three left in the pack. 

Suki watched him. She had seem him do the exact same thing hundreds of times, but years ago, so it seemed familiar but distant. “It's good to see you again, Max.”

He exhaled smoke. “I... I wasn't sure... What it would be like.” 

She smiled softly. “So what is it like?” 

”It's scary... And nice.” 

She reached out and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “You really haven't changed.” 

”No? I feel different.” 

”I'm sorry about that..."

”Oh, I don't mean because of the device-” 

”I didn't know what else to do, Max. Things were starting to get really messed up, and I needed to think of something. Anything that might give us a shot.” 

”I know that feeling, Suki.” 

”Yeah, I guess you do.” 

”I'm sorry I couldn't see it happening..." Max said. "It's like... I've been living like this for so long, I can't even notice when everything's falling apart. If you hadn't been here..." 

”Except now everyone's dead. Except for them-” She gestured to the others gathered a little ways away. “-and the priest.” 

”Yeah, but they're safe," Max said. "And now we have a chance to get them all back. What's the line? 'You did what you always do: turned death into a fighting chance'. Or something like that.” 

”Bones to Kirk, in the third one. I still remember doing that marathon with you and Akimoto. I liked the one with the whales the best.”

Max smiled at the memory. “Simon says that Alice was already dead... According to the intel LEGACY got from Hank. No idea why. They played me Suki, and I didn't see it. They cut me off from her, and from you...” 

Suki gave him a light punch to the arm. “If you beat yourself up now what will the bad guys have left to do when we hit the place?” She watched the tip of his cigarette flare in the the deepening night. “You haven't asked me why I was looking for you...” 

”I'm not sure I'm ready to know.” 

She changed the subject. Went professional. “What about this Light guy? Scorpio says LEGACY has had their eye on him. You think this was supposed to be his initiation?” 

”I don't know... He seems familiar to me... Maybe from another version? There's something about him...” Max shrugged. “He's been initiated now, either way.” 

She smirked. “It's what you do.”

Max looked at her with a mix of nostalgia and sadness. He took another drag, glanced over to Scorpio, who was cleaning a rifle for the third time. 

Suki shrugged. “Hey, I learned from the best.”

Max dropped the butt and ground it out. Looked at Suki, standing beside him, older, in her school uniform costume, the Godhammer hanging at her side. The smirk, the eye-roll, the frown, all so familiar, but she had new expressions too; she smiled in new ways, she looked sad in new ways. 

He opened his mouth to try and say it, to try and somehow turn it into words he could say to her. 

”No Max,” she said. “Not now."