Happy Halloween

Morganfokker's Costume (version.Farscape)

Max's Costume (version.Memento)

The Dragons' Costumes (version.Avengers)

featuring Suki as

 

A Noise Means Nothing

The train stopped and the doors slid open. Max stepped out on the platform and looked around; he glanced back inside the car and gave a slight nod.

Suki stepped out of the other door, Godhammer glowing and ready for action. She walked as if she was like a summer breeze blowing a leaf across an empty garden. She tilted her head to the side as if trying to hear something.

Frank followed her with a shotgun in his hands and primed for action; he watched the escalators to see if any movement was coming. He walked softly as well, trying not to make any sound at all.

The Protector

Maggie awoke to the sound of shuffling underneath her bed. Her first thought was it was the cat, but then she realized that she never had a cat. Even though she wanted one, she never could get it because of her allergies. She lay there, still, trying not to move and turning her head to hear. 

Thump. Tha-dump.

As if someone was crawling around underneath her bed, she could feel someone moving, coming up from the mattress. 

Her heart froze in her chest. Her hand inching away to where a teddy bear lay next to her. She really didn't want to alert whoever it was that she was up.

Her mattress moved. 

She held her breath, frozen in sheer terror. She didn't know what to do. Then she grasped her teddy bear and held it close.

Then suddenly the movement stopped. There was nothing, no sound. Maggie, still afraid, held her teddy bear. "You'll protect me from the big bad monster," she said to the bear as she turned to see its face. "I know you can do it before it comes back."

Cautiously she peered over the edge of the bed, seeing the darker-than-dark darkness underneath her bed, and she saw what appeared to be two or maybe three glowing eyes. 

She sat up on her bed and looked at her teddy bear.

"You ready?" she whispered to the bear. In her hands the teddy bear's head seemed to nod. "I know you can do it." 

The movement began again underneath her bed, and that's when she tossed the bear underneath. "You go get him MAX!"

They Mostly Come Out at Night...

"The sun is going down," Suki said. "I think we should get moving."

Max held up his hand in a caution signaling wait. He was lying on the floor with one ear to the ground looking more like a tracker.

Suki waited but kept looking around. She was getting anxious since the sunlight was being overwhelmed by the approaching night. 

Max closed his eyes and put his hand on the ground, trying to get a feel of mother earth. He could hear the sound of the Godhammer as Suki activated the gun.

"Whatever you are doing Max, do it fast," Suki said as she saw movement in the long shadows.

The Shadow Eaters

Angst took the drink that Max offered her; her hands were still shaking so much that the contents were spilling over the side. She didn't care about that at the moment, so she continued on with her tale. 

"There were about a dozen or so in the area. I was in the building checking to see what was making the signal while Laker stayed out front on sentinel duty."

She took a sip from the liquid, it felt smooth. No one dared speak up in this pause, everyone intent on listening to what she had to say. 

"The next thing I heard was Laker saying something about shadows moving and by the time I reached the front door, they were on him like a pack of wolves," she said.

"Did you see them?" Max asked. He had stayed in his crouching position beside her. His hand on her shoulder. 

"No," she replied. She dried a tear from the corner of her eye; she wished Frank was here to help comfort her.

"They were just shadows and they ripped into him like he was just a piece of meat."

Goner winced. Suki made a small growling sound. 

"I couldn't shout, because it was one of the most horrible things to see in my life," Angst whispered. "They had a stench about them like burnt ashes."

"That's the first of their incarnations," Maggie finally said. She stepped from the corner of the room. A quiet and sombre tone to her voice. "They're called Acers."

Have You've Seen Max?

Missing Time

Do you hear me. Do you care.
Do you hear me. Do you care?

Max was going mad. The three days of inactivity were the most agonizing he had ever known. There was little for him to do but exercise and sleep. He constantly checked the websites to see if anything was stirring, and it drew a blank.

"Come on," Max muttered to the screen. "Write something!"

Whispers from a Tear

Lanight stood surveying the starving people around him. All of them were dying, weak and malnourished, not fine specimens to experiment on. He noticed a figure walking among the dying. It was a woman; she had stopped by an elderly woman. He signaled Talon. 

"Who's that woman," Lanight inquired as he motioned his head toward her direction. "Is she a nurse? She's not Red Cross."

Talon glanced to where Lanight had motioned with his head. "You mean the old lady with the child in her lap?" 

"No, the one standing right beside them," Lanight said with a hint of impatience in his voice.

"I see no one," Talon replied. He spent another round into the head of another person too tired to raise an arm in defense. 

Lanight saw that she was young and beautiful. A fine healthy body that might withstand the treatments he wanted to try out.

Lanight strolled toward the woman. "Who are you? Where did you come from?". 

Talon strained to see who Lanight was talking to but couldn't see anyone else other than the dozen or so villagers lying on the ground. Before moving on he ejected the clip and slid another into the gun. He began to follow Lanight.

As Lanight approached he saw the woman's face as she pulled back the cowl. 

"You see me?" she asked of him and she smiled. "How quaint."

"I'm not blind you know," Lanight replied as he stopped within arm's length of her. She looked to be a healthy specimen to experiment on. "Explain yourself." 

Maggie looked at him, and smiled. But the smile wasn't warm and inviting.

 

Draw the Card

Max lay out on the sofa, remote in hand, resting on his chest. His eyes focused on the screen across the room, images that played out in a colourful symphony of pixelized signatures deciphered by the brain. 

His finger resting on the up channel button like a sniper waiting for the signal.

He was bored and there was nothing else on, but he watched with intent like a beefeater guard showing no emotions. He really didn't know what he wanted to do, and he figured he was too lazy at the moment to do anything about that. 

There was a rap at his door.

Reluctantly, Max sat up and and looked at the door. He stood up and walked over to it, peered through the peep hole to see two young women standing there. High-school or college-aged. Both wearing strange outfits. 

"Max Cube?" the cheerleader asked as he opened the door.

"Yes?" he said, his curiousity piqued. 

"Finally," the girl in the school-uniform said. "We've been trying to locate you for months." 

"What's this about?" he asked. He was starting to feel sorry that he answered the door; these two young girls didn't look like bill collectors or salespeople.

The cheerleader opened up a sling bag, and inside were two guns. They seemed to radiate magic. Max stared at them for several seconds... His eyes widening with horror...

Tis the Reason

Sweating, his arms still shackled to the wall, he was spread-eagle and there was nothing he could do about it.

Hateful, he glared at Morbid. 

The static was broken once more with Frank calling out over the radio, "Max. Where are you?"

Max didn't respond. He just stared at Morbid with a thin grimace on his face. 

"Answer them," Morbid told Max.

The MaX Factor

The summer sun was slipping away, sinking like a ship upon the horizon or more like a drowning man still maintaining life as long as possible. 

Max turned the car down the dirt road, heading up to an old farmhouse. It was old and the windows long since smashed and boarded up. The road hadn't been used in a quite awhile, and the tall grass was rubbing along the underbelly of the car.

He stopped near the front steps and sat in the car, turning it off but keeping the radio on. His fingers drumming to the beat. He looked at the rickety steps leading up to the porch of the house, the rails knocked over and the paint long since vanished. 

He cracked a smile when he heard an old tune on the radio, it brought a floodgate of memories.

His watch began to chime, it was: 9:19. He shut the car off and got out and headed towards the abandoned building. As he touched the first step, he felt the wave of dimensions - it felt like he was stepping through a waterfall into a hidden cave. The steps were painted a fresh white colour, and the lights on the house were on. The door to the house was opened, but the screen door was closed and he could hear the sound of a tv set inside. 

He cracked another smile when he heard a young girl's voice declare, "Uncle Max is here!"

Hiccup

Max braked the car in the mouth of the alley. He found nothing but rain and an empty alley behind the nightclub. It all felt wrong, and he realized that he suspected it was a trap. 

"I'm here," he said to no one in particular.

"I see you," said a voice over the radio. "Get out the car and walk down towards the red door." 

Max reluctantly slid out the car; he glanced around and saw no other movement. He new this was a trap, but he had to play along.

"The red door," the voice on the radio told him. "Now." 

Max whispered slightly, "You with me?"

"Right behind you," Mags' voice whispered softly in his ear.

The Incantationalist

Maggie looked at the maggot on the palm of her hand, staring at it as it wiggled about trying to latch back onto the rotted parcel it was eating. With a tilt of her hand the tiny devourer of flesh rolled into a coffee cup. 

She then plucked a strand of hair from her head and proceed to tie it into three knots. She smiled as she did so, and then added that to the cup.

She reached across the table to obtain the final ingredient. She reached inside the ashtray and took a pinch of it and then dropped it into the coffee mug. She muttered to her self, something that sounded like an incantation. 

She reached over and poured coffee into the mug, and as she did the patterns on the cup began to swirl.

"Perfect," she said. She stirred the cup and then smiled.

Mana Hit

Goner was bored and was tired of riding the rails; it seemed like they were in the car for hours with no end in sight. 

Various platforms phased past the windows, each view a different take on a Salvador Dali painting. He was restless and wanted out, just for a few moments of fresh air.

He glanced around the subway and saw everyone either catching 40 winks or meditating. Except for Aqua who was sitting and listening to her digital audio player. 

"What are you listening to?" Goner inquired. He plopped down in the seat next to Aqua; he could hear the music escaping from the crevices around her ears.

"Mana Junkies," she replied. 

"Those wieners? Man that's crappy music. Why don't you listen to Plastik Kyngs or better yet Dexx3r. They have rad sounds!" he told her. "Mana Junkies. What a wimp ass name for a group."

Pen is Mightier

The doorbell jingled as Darius entered the coffee shop; he stopped and stared at the chime overhead and he marveled at the wonders of a simple device that alerted those within earshot that someone had entered.

With the world constantly spinning ahead in technological wonder, here was an old wind-chime still doing sentry duty. He shook his head. 

He kicked up his skateboard and headed over to a booth, still with a simple smile on his face.

Joan the waitress had a glass of lime water placed at a booth. She proceeded back behind the counter and placed an order without even taking it. 

"You're a saint, Joan," Darius said as he slipped into the booth. And then he chuckled to himself when he realized what he said.

"Thank you, Dar," she replied and flashed him a smile. 

He reached within his pockets and took out an old bible and a pen and a notepad and placed it on the table by the window.

"What do you write in your journal?" Joan pried. She was bored and just wanted to make some small talk. 

"Oh you know, the usual," he started. "Battling demons, fighting hordes of undead zombies, having coffee with an angel."

 

Relish the Thought

"Do you smell that?" Maggie asked. She had stopped and sniffed the air. Max paused to take a sniff, but he couldn't detect anything. 

"What do you smell?" Max inquired. He wiped the brow from his forehead. They still had a little ways to go through the tunnel.

Maggie closed her eyes and took another whiff and then she shook her head. 

"It's mustard dammit," she replied. "A lifetime supply of mustard!"

Visions in Blue

Marty Tambler tried to take the glass of water that was being offered to him, but his hands were still trembling as he reached for it and thought better of it. He waved it away.

"Do you want to continue your story?" the sheriff asked. He was sitting on the edge of his desk, looking down upon Marty. The sheriff was an imposing figure, but that didn't faze him one bit.

Marty took a deep breath and then continued. "Well, one of the eight guys looked ready to kill me, he drew his gun and brought it up to my head. Then a woman's voice from the shadows said, 'I wouldn't do that if I were you.' And that's when everything went to hell in a handbasket."

"She stepped from the shadows, seeming to be glowing in very pale light, she was holding something in her hands, and I heard one of the fellows hiss, 'This is not your fight. Besides this is not even your prime, go back to where you belong.' And she told them 'All primes are mine'.

"I heard someone mention something about a plex-guardian, or something like that, and that's when she went to town on them." 

The sheriff shook his head and then asked, "Is that the way it happened, Marty? You know we will get to the bottom of this."

Marty looked at the sheriff and right into his eyes; the sheriff had been on the force long enough to know this fellow wasn't embellishing his tale one bit. "As God as my witness. He sent an angel to deliver me from those evil bastards."

Crime Scene Investigators

Dream Street. 11:33pm

The emergency lights flickered like distant lightning from an approaching thunderstorm. It was never a good sign when you have over a dozen squad cars lining a section of the street.

"This doesn't look good," Frank muttered as he placed his styrofoam mug of Warbuck's coffee into a holder.

"It never is when there's this many at the scene," Max replied. He saw an opening and made his way there.

Max pulled the car off to the side and stepped out; he rifled through his coat and couldn't find what he was looking for. He checked the dash of the car and saw the package of nails waiting. He grabbed them off the dashboard and lit a cigarette.

"She's not going to like it," Frank called from the other side of the car. He stood there making sure his overcoat was unrumpled.

"Yeah I know," Max replied after a long puff.

"Your funeral, partner," Frank gave him a wink.

They approached the crime scene. A young cop stood by on sentry duty, a junior grade rookie but trying to make himself look like someone of importance as Max flashed his badge to gain entry.

"Det. Cube," Max said out of habit.

The cop lifted the police line tape as Max and Frank ducked under it. They walked into a tangle of police cars and cruisers parked on the road like a child's matchbox set.

As they approached the crime scene they noticed that portable lights were set and lighting up a section of the ground.

"Cube," a voice full of authority called. "You know you should put that out."

Max shrugged as he approached Maggie.

"What's up, Margaret?" Max asked, noticed the cringing look in her eyes. He knew what buttons to push.

False Hope

Someone had let out an agonizing scream as they rushed him. Max had no idea who it was that let out the scream since he was too busy trying to stay alive.

He feinted off to one side and the LEGACY goon fell for it, and Max made him eat a blade between the ribs.

Max thought he might have a chance in this encounter.

But of course he was wrong.

Never Fade Away

"What you are saying is that they are all robots?" Max asked. He butted out his third cigarette and reached for another one from the open pack at the table. "All of them?" 

Frank nodded before replying. "Every last single one of them. It's like it's all gone Stepford."

"Creepy," Dexter said with a shudder. "Everyone?" 

"Not just everyone," Frank stated. "It's every freakin' thing. Even the rats and birds and the spider that makes a web by the mailboxes!"

Max lit up his fourth smoke. Inhaled and waited several long seconds to let the smoke out. "I guess that settles it then."

Like Bending Rays of Light

Dawn was breaking over the treetops when Max stepped out from the tent. It was a cool damp morning, and he zippered up the jacket. The unit had already begun breaking camp down, loading equipment into the back of trucks. 

Before he did anything, he fished a cigarette out of a metal pack in his pocket and lit it. He wanted to start the day off on the right track.

"What's the word," he asked a soldier who was passing by. 

"We got to head west," the warrior said. "There's a huge storm front coming in from the east and we need to find a better place to hold up for a while."

Max nodded at the soldier and turned to see if he could find a cup of coffee somewhere.

The Ghost Light

Maggie hovered three feet off of the ground, her arms outstretched like a lover about to embrace the wind. Her hair flowing about her as if it had a mind of its own. She looked both angelic and demonic at the same time. 

Her eyes were closed and you could see the tips of her fingers begin to glow. A fluorescent effect giving her an eerie glow.

Goner's eyes widened and he backed away; he had never seen her do anything like this before. 

He turned and fled as his horror factor kicked in, making him cry out like a little boy.

Like a Piece of Driftwood on the Sea...

In a seedy hotel room in Las Vegas, on the nightstand is an overfull ashtray with a dozen butts laying about like frat boys after a kegger. Also on the nightstand sits three empty bottle of Jack Daniels next to a bottle that's just been cracked.

The room is dark except for the neon glow of a sign which shines through a small crack in the curtains. The sound of the television is low.

Max Cube is lying on the bed, unshaven and holding a glass of jack on the rocks while a lit cigarette smolders away in his hands. He is watching but not watching television, his eyes focused on the images but not taking anything in. Like the stars in the sky they are far and distant.

} Small Talk - for J.G.

"You sure this is the place?"

Angst glanced over her shoulder at Suki and smiled. "Have I ever lead you astray?" She dismounted from the motorcycle and waited for Suki as she took off her helmet and put it on the bike. Angst reached inside the saddle bag and pulled out some band-aids and began to apply them over her fingers.

"Well," Suki said. "There was the time in New York. You know CBGB's..."

"Let's not go there now," Angst told Suki as she handed her a strip of band-aids. Then adding with a heartfelt sigh, "Though I guess we can never go back there again in this reality."

Suki slung her school bag over her shoulder and made sure the Godhammer was inside. She really didn't want to be caught off guard, especially in a place like this. She took out a book of matches and opened them and peeled the front row off and handed it to Angst. Each stick had a symbol on them.

"And then there was this time in the dance club where you started a fight, a fight I'd like to remind you that I broke up."

"It wasn't my fight to begin with," Angst interjected.

Nexus Force

"Yo Max, pass me another beer," Dexter said; he was leaning against the meat counter, picking at an open container of luncheon meat. 

Max reached behind him and pulled out a can of Coors and handed it Dexter. He didn't think that the shop owner would mind, since there was no sign of anyone at all.

"Listen...," Aqua said as she rain down the aisle; she was carrying a boombox. She placed the stereo down on a shelf, there was nothing but static. "It was there a moment ago." 

"Who hasn't heard that before?" Goner questioned. "We've been hearing nothing but white noise ever since we arrived in this godforsaken wasteland."

Max cocked his head to one side and he could here a faint voice amongst the static. He smiled. "This means we are not alone in this shifted version," he said. "We got work to do!"

"It's about freakin' time," Dexter said as he downed the warm beer and tossed the can over his shoulder.

Mistaken Moments

Maggie took a deep breath. She had reached her limit, she had been on the run for hours and they still seemed to be one step ahead each time. It was time to face the music once and for all.

"It's do or die," she said aloud, as she wrapped a fresh bandage on her arm. Making sure it was secure enough to staunch the flow of blood.

At the far end of the street she saw four figures emerge from the shadows. One of the cell team held a "godhammer". The others carried various other weapons.

As they came closer Maggie let out an astonished gasp at what she saw; a woman warrior, hardened by time, leading the cell forward. There was no mistaking it, she saw her herself.

Her double self, eyes widening as she caught site of Maggie.

"What the hell is this?" her double asked.

Chance Encounter in a Coffee House

Max Cube blew wispy smoke across the table at the man in the blue suit, wondering why he hadn't gone to Peru. Now he found himself sitting in a coffee house across from someone he had killed several times over in various universes.

"You know she is the key to this," the blue-suited man said to him.

"I wouldn't exactly say a key," Max replied after he butted out the cigarette. "She's more of a legend."

If I Die Before I Wake

"Interesting," the man said as he stood back and looked at the limp body of Maggie. "She never screamed out."

He placed a couple of bloody tools on a palette and stood back to admire the corpse he had just made. He reached for a camera and snapped off a photo and smiled.

"What a subject," he said with such sadness. "Such a pity."

He touched his hand to her chin and lifted up her head and stared at it for a brief second before letting it fall limp. He thought about kissing her lips but never acted on impulse.

He turned to his next victim and with a hand to his lackeys he said, "Dispose of her."

The man approached Max, who was strapped down on a steel slab. Metal bands strapped across his body to hold him from escaping.

"Your friend was an interesting subject," he said to Max. "I hope you fare as good as she did."

Max started to chuckle.

"What is funny?"

"Nothing much," Max said in a raspy voice. "Just that you have made a big mistake."

"What do you mean?" the man said as he turned to see the latch come from from Mags' limbs. And the lackeys began to remove her form. The man snapped to attention as he saw Mags open up an eye.

"You don't know the level of pain that you have brought upon yourself," Max said.

On the Run, Forced to Flee...

The rain continued to fall and showed no sign of letting up soon. Max could tell that morning was coming since the sky seemed to lighten up a bit. There was a hint of a smile on his lips, another night gone by.

Max raced through the bushes since time was of the essence now. Suki kept up pace with him, constantly looking over her shoulder. She stumbled a little and was about to fall but Max caught her arm and kept her steady.

"I don't think I can run anymore," Suki said with so much exhaustion.

"Daylight is just moments away," Max told her. "Just for a few more minutes, kay."

Suki forced a smile and continued to run on numb legs. 

"I hate this world," she muttered.

"Because of the vampires?" Max questioned.

"No," Suki replied. "It doesn't have a Timmy's."

Games Without Frontiers

Max's eyes flickered at the crisp blue sky overhead, where clouds blocked and puffy floated overhead much akin to an old NES video game.

His head pounded as if a small insect had crawled inside and now was munching on his grey matter. His eyes hurt as if thousands of small needles where being jammed into them.

"Where in the hell are we?" Angst asked. She sat up and glanced around. "Sure is pretty though."

"I rightly don't know," Max answered truthfully. He was suffering from what appeared to be jet lag and couldn't get his bearings.

"You okay Max?" Frank asked.

"Yeah," Max replied.

"You ever see that Disney flick Tron? I think this is something like that?" Frank stated.

"Tron?" Angst repeated. "What is that?"

"It's about a world of programs playing games to survive," Frank gave her the reader's digest version.

"You mean Reboot?" Angst asked. "I like that show with Bob, Dot and Mike the TV. Really hated that Enzo though."

MAXical Mystery Tour

Like Twilight for Chocolate

Suki slid across the floor, her arm outreached grabbing for the Godhammer. Around her bullets ate up the concrete, showering dust around her. It was a hailstorm.

She reached the gun and continued to slide behind some cover, and that began to disintegrate as well. She went fetal as she felt the gun in her hand and she pressed the trigger for it to charge up. Dust specks rained around her, turning her black hair into silver.

She could hear the faint hum and the gun began to give a faint glow like a distant star in the twilight sky. Another few seconds and those bastards wouldn't know what hit them.

Cube Hype

Madison Hall walked swiftly next to the orderly down the stone stairs. She didn't know what to expect when she had received her new case. Madison was glad to be given such a subject to study, it would be a definite book or two, and she would probably do the talk-shows.

"He's down here," the orderly said. "This is where we keep our special cases."

"I know," Madison said matter-of-factly. "I've read his dossier."

"Let me tell you sister," the orderly said with a hint of a wry smile. "Reading and seeing are two different things."

Madison thought the orderly was shining her on. With her being new to this ward, they probably wanted to scare her with hidden bogeymen ready to spring out and get you.

The orderly reached up and punched a set of keys and a buzzer sounded and the door unlocked.

"Is he kept alone?" she inquired.

"It's hard to say," the orderly replied. He made sure that the door was shut behind them and he hit the locking mechanism. "He might not even be there."

"What do you mean?" Madison inquired. "Does he escape?"

"It's hard for me to say," the orderly said. "Some times he goes for a few days, but he always reappears here. Haven't you read his file?"

Madison stopped in her tracks. "You mean to say that he is gone physically? Not mentally?"

The orderly kept walking down the white corridor.

Madison proceeded to walk in, analyzing the new data which the orderly was telling her. She felt the orderly was pulling her leg, trying to get a shine on the new face in the crowd.

The orderly approached the door at the end of the hall which was labelled: Project Cube.

The Delicate Perceptions of Cubes

Max looked up and smiled at the waitress as she walked away from the table. She gave him a wink and he nodded his appreciation of not having to call her for a cup of coffee.

"Still got the charm," Pretty said as he slid into the seat. He was dripping in sweat and his long coat seemed to be bulging with items. Though Max could see that Pretty was pretty comfortable.

"Yep," Max replied, then he took a sip of coffee. "What have you got for me?"

"Something new and exciting," Pretty said as he put a cloth bag on the table. He pushed it towards Max. "Got it from a fallen LEGACY cell team. Got there before the blue boys could make the scene."

Max didn't bother on opening the bag just yet. He had good judgement in Pretty's observational technique. 

"You let me know how it works," George said as he slid out of the seat. "Sorry to make this quick but I got a deal going on the other side of the river."

"Thanks, Pretty," Max said.

The Mission is the Key...

Twip.

The sentry didn't know what hit him as the bullet entered his skull and mushroomed out the side of his head. 

He fell over faster than the cigarette that tumbled from his mouth. 

"One down and about a million more to go," Mags announced over the headset. She changed targets to the next sentry. 

"Stick to the game plan." The Professor's voice was crisp and clear. "No deviations at this point. Stay focused."

"Don't you ever sleep?" Mags asked the Professor.

"I don't think he ever does," Angst said. She was dressed in black like Mags, in a skin-tight spandex suit, which made her look more like an X-man than a cheerleader. "I think he should switch to decaf."

Mags chuckled a little.

"Quit the static." The Professor's voice had an severe edge to it. "You know what this mission means."

"Must be that time of month for him," Angst replied to Mags.

Let Sleeping Max Sleep

"Rise and shine Max," Frank's voice seemed to echo from a distant tunnel, rousing Max from his sleep. Fleeting memories of what was happening disappeared like ripples in a water.

Max opened his eyes and looked around the subway car. He checked his watch and to his amazement he had slept six hours.

"You've been sawing logs for a while," Frank said.

"What's going on?" Max asked.

"Not too sure at the moment, the others are gone out to scout things around," Frank replied. "Tried to get you up earlier but you were in a deep sleep."

> Debashis in Plureality 4

Suki was what they called “wisely innocent”, a soul who presented as rather young but in reality, was ages beyond others. It’s just that she would come across as naïve. 

Max never felt sorry for her, but wanted to protect her. That was hard because she had her own little chaos and Max was chaos personified. Some days. Most nights. 

Suki and Max, at some star-crossed time, had this mutual-protection-unspoken-pact between them that led them both to the brink of destruction – well, while Suki tended to come to the edge because of Max, Max led himself there rather often. They’d get to the edge, get nearly destroyed, and then walk away, with some bruises and cuts and scrapes, and maybe missing a limb. 

Max would recover and get into some adventure again (more likely a ‘situation’) and Suki would rise to some other level of maturity or development or awareness or consciousness or some something self-aggrandizing like that. Except she would not really see herself that way. But deep down in her versions, her selves, her plurealities, she grew deeper and deeper, older and older, wiser and wiser. 

To you and me, she was just Suki, someone to watch as she negotiated her way through the stars, someone who was cute, but in that ‘little kid’ kind of way – maybe like a little sister – a little sister who could just as easily pull an Uzi or furnish a switchblade to slit your jugular. 

How can you want to be near someone to protect them and yet at the same time, be a little scared of them? That’s Suki. Cute and Cutting.

Trio of Death

Trump waited outside the door to the building. He was sitting there waiting; soon as the door opened he would see who was coming out.

It had been awhile since somebody stepped through the door, and he was getting a tad impatient. It wasn't like he had anything else better to do today.

He heard the splash of footsteps coming down the alley. He glanced up and saw three teenaged girls running, giggling as they did so.

He just sat there licking his paws and did a double-take as the girls slowed down and began to draw weapons. He stopped what he was doing and looked over the girls once again.

They all had stopped by the door and were positioning themselves for an ambush of sorts. 

It's times like these I wish I had a cellphone, Trump thought.

Coffee and a Donut?

"It's gone downhill since then," Frank replied. He pushed the coffee cup towards the waitress. She flashed him a smile and he winked back as she refilled his cup.

Goner was sipping his cola. He wasn't much of a coffee drinker, and he couldn't fathom why anyone would drink oil from beans to begin with.

"You mean you guys tanked out?" Goner asked.

"Not really," Frank replied after he took a sip from the coffee. 

"Then what?" questioned Goner. 

"Well," Frank said once the waitress was out of earshot. "It's just that it just went bat-shit crazy from that point on. You know the weird stuff we encountered in the Plaza Station?"

Goner nodded.

"Imagine that about tenfold," Frank said.

"No way," Goner said breathlessly.

The doors chimed and Max entered. He spotted the two and went over to the table. He didn't even have to signal the waitress for a coffee because she was automatically pouring one. Goner looked up at Max and shook his head in disbelief.

"You told him?" Max asked of Frank as he slid into the booth alongside him.

"Well, just the basics," Frank replied. "I really didn't go into detail."

"You had to been there, Gondy" Max said.

The Item is the Key...

Max let himself into his room and locked the door. He reached inside his shirt pocket and put a small item on the dresser. The item was like a small ball with a few small switches on it, and lettering that seemed very archaic.

He went to the window and glanced around before he pulled the curtains shut. There was no one in the parking lot. 

He poured himself a drink and then sat down at the edge of the bed, looking at the item. He took a long sip and then picked up his cellphone and dialed a number.

"It's me," he said. "I have it."

The Sound of Dreams Clashing

Mags awoke to the sound of someone entering her bedroom window; she slowly reached underneath her bed and unsheathed her katana.

"It's just me, Maggie," Suki said as she slipped into the room like an untrained assassin on her first mission.

"Suki, are you trying to get yourself killed?" Mags asked as she sat up. Mags was naked and covered in sweat. 

"Just seeing if I could do that, is all," Suki said with a sly smile, like a fox who knew a secret way into a hen house. "Besides, we have somewhere important to go and I'm hungry and you're buying."

Mags thought better than to cleave Suki in half, and looked around to find her clothes. 

"Do you mind if I shower first?" Mags asked.

"Well, okay," Suki replied. She was looking around Mags room and studying some of the pictures that were hung about. Nothing to show the personality of Mags, just visual items pleasant to the eyes.

"Did you dream?" Suki asked.

This made Mags pause a second, and thinking about the last few seconds before being awoken and she couldn't remember if she had dreamed or not. She presumed she did but over time just tuned out the visceral images. "No," she said.

Mags got up and stretched and headed to the bathroom. 

"I dreamed I was a marble rolling through an open field," Suki said; she had leaned forward and peered at a picture. "Off in the distance there was this lighthouse. It was an old one and painted like a candy cane. You know the red and white swirl."

"Interesting," Mags called out.

"I wonder if that means anything? I really don't remember my dreams at all, just bits of images, but this one stood clear out when I woke up this morning." Suki stopped by the dresser and looked at a cameo that was there. She picked it up and looked at closely. It was old and beautiful and it looked like it had been through a hundred battles.

"Nice cameo," Suki said. "How long have you had it?"

"It's been with me for a while," Mags replied. "It was gived to me by a special friend."

"Who was he?" 

"Not a he. A she," Mags replied.

The Falling Shade of Light

"You are really beginning to tick me off," Max growled as he crossed the room and snatched Verdi's collar and lifted him off the ground. 

The little bald headed man didn't seem to be taken aback by this predicament.

"You're too late, Max," Verdi sneered. "You lose. I win."

"It hasn't gone into effect yet, you could shut it down," Max snapped. He brought the man's face close to his and sneered.

"Not likely," Verdi said with an amusing chuckle.

"Call it off," Max barked. "This is your last chance."

Verdi smiled at Max and said, "It's out of my hands."

Max dropped Verdi to the ground like a man who had touched something that was rotted and covered in maggots and he brought up a pistol.

"What, are you going to shoot me now?" Verdi asked. "Kill an unarmed man?"

Max looked Verdi in the eyes and snarled just before he pulled the trigger.

The Disbelief

"Oh really now?" Mags said as she left the bar. "Do you think everything would be as simple as that?"

Goner shrugged. "I'm quite sure about this ---" He pulled a pair of dice out of his jacket pocket "--- and as soon as they come up snake eyes then the portal opens."

Mags rolled her eyes. "Did this fellow happen have some magic beans as well?"

Dancing Dogs

The nightclub was packed. The beautiful people were on the ground floor, gyrating and grinding to the latest techno-beat from a mana spinner. The magic was high and intense and Max could feel that vibe and he cracked a little smile.

Max stood on the upper tier looking down upon the dancing beast below. His cigarette stuck in his mouth and he was listening to the music, as well. He could spot Suki in the crowd, she was having a really good time.

Max was amazed that the doormen even let her in the establishment in the first place. Since she looked like she should be at the library leafing through reference books for an essay.

"So what's up Max?" Mags asked as she placed a hand gently upon his shoulder.

"Nothing," Max said. "Everything."

"Something eating at you?" Mags asked. She turned his face towards her, and she could read it in his eyes. "Yes there is."

Max let out a sigh.

The Ritual of Gates & Portals

Max went into the bathroom and looked down beside the toilet and saw the plunger standing there. He reached down and picked it up. He searched underneath the sink and picked out a few items, glass cleaner, some all purpose cleanser and a tube of toothpaste.

He brought all these items back to the living room window. He placed them down on a coffee table and he took the glass cleaner and sprayed the front window, and he wiped it clean spotless. 

He stuck the plunger against the glass. And then he unscrewed the tube of toothpaste and began drawing a swirling circle around the plunger, all the while muttering several lines from what appeared to be a Chemical Bros song.

Once the tube was rolled up, he tossed that into a waste-paper basket and grabbed the all purpose cleanser. He sprayed it lightly along the shaft of the plunger, meanwhile reciting something that could have been taken from a Fatboy Slim song. 

He took his cellphone from the table and he punched in a series of numbers, as he aimed the antenna towards the centre.

"Come on baby, work," he said. 

His thumb danced over the numbers pad, making a melodic tune over and over again. He stood there for several long minutes, as sweat began to pour from his forehead.

That's when he saw the window begin to go static like an old TV does when it's first turned on.

*Carry On My Wayward Max*

Time: 5:00pm
Date: October 23, 1977
Place: a NYC Subway Platform

Max felt uneasy each time he walked down the steps to the subway. It seemed like something evil and drastic was going to happen. He really didn't know why he felt this way about it, it could have been a traumatic incident in the past that he had mentally blocked and the residues break through the cracks now and then.

He took the last cigarette from the pack and he crumbled it up and tossed it in the trash bin next to the turnstile. He dropped a token into the slot and slid through the device with a satisfying click. He spotted vending machines ahead and saw the cigarette one. He hoped it had stocked his brand in there, and he was relieved to see that it was. He slide several coins into the machine and heard the coins make their way into the belly of the beast. Then he pulled the lever and like magic his cigarettes where there.

"You know those will eventually kill you," said a young fellow. He was dressed up in a tattered long jacket that was hiding torn jeans and a stained t-shirt. The kid also had a bible tucked underneath his arm.

Great, Max thought. A holy roller.

The kid gave him a wink knowingly.

Through Other Eyes I Can See...

In the afternoon he was walking through the park plotting his next revolution, it was fall and the season had fully changed from vibrant to pastel. A revolution of sorts is fun to do, a kind of pick and choose to see what kind of magic could be woven.

Max crested a small hill along the pathway and discovered a little girl sitting alone on at a bench. She was eating a cookie. She had a small carton of chocolate milk beside her.

"Hello Mister," the girl said as Max passed by on the path. "If you run really fast you still can zip ahead in time. Though you already knew that didn't you."

That made Max slow down and he turned to face her.

"My mom doesn't want me to talk to strangers," the little girl said. "But in your case I just had to tell you of your aura and what it has to say to me."

"You perceive auras?" Max questioned her. He stopped a few feet away from the bench and hunched down to catch his breath.

"Yes I do," said the girl. She reached down and brought up a small carton of milk to wash down the solid. "They tell me things and what the person is up to. Like that evil man over there."

Max looked over to where the girl was pointing at and saw an elderly gentlemen sitting at the fountain feeding pigeons. The man had to be in his late 80's.

"He's thinking of nasty ways to kill those birds all the while as he is feeding them nourishment," the little girl said and went back to eating her cookie.

"And you can tell that by looking at him," Max asked. He glanced back at the man. 

"That and the hundreds of dead souls that are hanging around him," she said brightly. "They are calling him a murderer."

"Oh?" Max said. He glanced back at the little girl who had finished one cookie and had taken another cookie out of a wrapper. "What do these souls look like?"

"They are wearing grey and black clothing and they all look like skeletons with skin on them. I am not suppose to know what skeletons are since my mom doesn't want me watching television. She says television is evil and has lots of evil stuff on it."