Max's mind couldnt stop thinking about Jake.
While he traversed the giant white advantagem maze that was the animal farm, he kept thinking about Jake.
Despite his body radiating a glowing red aura or it being encased in a black spike filled armor with comically large hrons, he kept remembering his high school days. Him and Jake against the world.
He was the brains while Jake was the bumbling sidekick. That was their dynamic. Max was always in charge while Jake was the one being led. Sometimes though, that wasn't the case.
There were times Jake wanted to do his own thing. There were tmes he saw some poor kid getting bullied or beat up by Ivy or her goons and he wanted to step in. Max couldn't have that. Max wouldn't let him.
Was it because he didn't want Jake to get hurt What did he think he was? Some kind of hero?
Or maybe he didn't want Jake to steal his spotlight.
Was he holding Jake back? Stopping him from realising his true potential? Maybe,but Max didnt care. He knee it didn't matter now.
What mattered now was the present.
Max had stopped running for quite a while actually. Not because he realised he was lost. But something stopped him.
Or someone.
"Well what do we have here?"
Max froze at the figure before him.
The four eyed mask wearing freak. The man that started it all, Mr E in the flesh. The cause of his suffering. His transformation from a man with ambitions and goals into a mindless beast.
A fate that he needed Jake to free him from. Max would never forgive him for letting that happen. Both Mr E and Jake.
"Yes. It's me. Your favorite lab rat. In the flesh." Max replied. Blood boiling as the red mist began to envelope his body at rapid speed.
"It's been quite a while. How are you? How did you break out of your.. transformation?" Mr E took a step forward with an outstretched hand. Like he wanted a handshake.
He would receive none.
"What do you want from me?" Max shouted back. Taking a few steps back, his crimson aura was now enveloping the white corridor they were in. Bright red light reflecting off the walls and floor.
Mr E stood still for a moment.
"Listen. You remember my plan right? It was full proof. However a little hitch has caused quite a stir."
"Stir?"
"Yes. You see, i had captured Hawk knight and his new danger squad. Im sure he formed it to get revenge on me for killing Captian Rocket.
Is that why Jake was here? Max pondered this for a brief second before Mr E continued.
"I had made several deals to make my plan successful. One of which was providing a certain supplier of my advantagem with muman super soldiers. Luckily I aquired resources necessary to make a clone of Captian Rocket using his dead body. I tested it on Hawk knight but it appeared to be not up to code. I had Ace execute it along with Hawk knight and.."
"Let me guess, it didnt go well?"
" It seems that I greatly underestimated his power. I assumed since Ace was capable of killing the old Danger squad with relative ease even with Hawk knight's inclusion he'd be able to do so again. Sadly I was wrong. Now half my base was destroyed and Hawk knight along with that clone is running around the farm killing my clones."
Max couldn't help but smirk once he heard this news. He now had a firm grasp of the situation and he loved it.
"So what your saying is, you killed Captain Rocket, who I recall is one of the few supers actively hunting you down. You make a clone of him soon after to pay a dept you owe. You capture Hawk knight and his new Danger Squad because you think they may interfere with your plan. You use him to test out that clone and wanted them both executed but that only ended with your most powerful soldier being defeated. Now you're here because?"
"Hawk knight is actively roaming the farm hunting me down. I made several clones of myself scattered throughout the place. Some to manage my army of monsters, all dead by the way, others to fully prepare the mutoxin bomb. You know? The one you helped me make?"
Max remembered the bomb. He didn't think much of it at first. He thought it was a device to help improve mutations. Help the Super community and earn him some cash.
Some fame.
Thats what drove him to work with Mr E in the first place. Oh how naive he was.
"And?" Max said, not wanting to think about his own naivety.
And now Hawk knight and that clone are running around the base killing me. Whether it's to stop My plans or get vengeance on me I don't know and don't intend to find out. I've sent my clones to hunt down those remaining mumsns from my army and consume them. That way I can regain my strength, fuse to my normal self and take him down before he interferes any further."
"And that is where I come in."
"Exactly. In order to mutate you, I injected some of my own mutoxin filled blood inside you. Now I need it back. By any means necessary."
Mr E took a few more steps forward, prompting Max to take a few back. Max wanted to run. To get away from this man before he uses him again. He hates being used.
That was Jake's life. Not his.
Max suddenly jammed his fist into his own chest. However instead of blood, crimson red vapor poured out from the wound like an old geyser. Mr E froze for a moment, watching what Max was doing. Too curious to interfere.
Max then pulled out a a large green orb from the gaping hole in his chest. A hole which disappeared in seconds soon after. Releasing more red vapor while doing so.
"This is what you want right? This orb contains all the mutoxin you pumped into me, incased in the red aura you see around me. A new power Ive aquired through.. less tge favourable means. Nonetheless, this toxin, which I am now free of, represents my freedom from you." Max said to the confused man.
Mr E stared at him, unsure what to do next. His only hope staring back at him in the form of a green orb.
"Come on! Don't you want it? Come and take it."
Mr E reluctantly obliged and slowly walked towards Max. His arms on his sides and slightly shaking, indicating a quick mutation to form a weapon just in case he tries to attack him.
However that was not Max's intent at all.
He crushed the orb in his palm. Just when Mr E reached out his hand to grab it. Green viscous fluid oozing from its remains.
Mr E took a step back. Veins on his head pulsing like never before and letting out a loud monstrous roar. Like a lion warning others to stay away.
"What the hell did you do?!" He roared, reaching our to grab Max who dodged at the right moment.
"As I said, that orb represented my connection to you. I am now free." He said with a small grin.
Mr E lunged at the grinning man. His hands now sharp lobster claws. His teeth as long as a sabertooth tiger but with the bite force of a tyranosaurus. Max ducked out of the way and disappeared.
Leaving Mr E with a flash of red mist.
Mr E cleared his eyes. He slammed his large crustacean claws onto the advantegem ground, barely doing any damage.
He then screamed in frustration. Not at the fact that he was tricked, but the fact that he was weak.
He could feel them, his clones, disappearing one my one. Their signatures wiping of his mind like they never existed. He was growing weaker and weaker. With each clone being only a fraction of himself, feeling them die was like losing a portion of himself, little by little.
He took a gander at the green liquid splattered across the floor. A normal man would be ashamed of what Mr E was thinking of doing but he wasn't a normal man.
Not anymore.
If he wanted to bring the age of the normal man to an end he needed to abandon his own humanity.
He quickly aimed for the liquid and extended his tongue like that of a chameleon, appearing just below his four eyed mask. However, just before he could lick the fluid, replenishing himself just a bit, he felt his instincts going overboard.
With a feeling of several people beating his head with a hammer to warn him he knew something was amiss. Or rather, someone was coming.
He licked the floor clean try in less than a few seconds. His body soon shook and spasmed like he had a seizure. He enjoyed it, for he knew he now had a fighting chance. He knew by now one of his clones had found the remains of his monster army and consumed them and now all he needed to do was fuse with them and he'd have enough power to...
He felt a sharp focused pain on his chest. He looked at it, slowly turning his head down as the pain consumed his entire being like a virus.
He saw a blood covered hand, fingers coiled in a bloody fist right through his chest. He turned his head to the side and his eyes widened at the sight.
The clone. The one he made from Captian Rocket had punched a hole right through his chest. Made sense. Although the clone was weak, due to his own cloning of himself he was also very weak. Even with the fluid he wasn't strong enough to resist such a sneak attack.
The boy wasn't smiling. Nor was he frowning. His face was blank. Emotionless. No humanity in him whatsoever.
That was what he wanted to see. No emotion. No humanity. Just a mindless machine with the face of this boy. To be killed with this being the last thing he saw left a bitter sweet taste in his mouth. Or maybe that was all the iron in his blood that escaped it.
The boy pulled his arm out of him, causing his body to fall to the floor in a large thud. The boy wiped the blood off by rubbing it through the wall. Looking at him with those dead yes the whole time. Mr E wasn't angry at the boy. He had ordered him killed so he wanted vengeance. He got it and another clone had bit the dust. This was a dog eat dog situation and Mr E was fine with it.
That's when he heard something that caused him to nearly vomit.
Hey! Kal! Get over here!"
It wasn't the call from Hawk knight that hit him, but the boy's reaction. His emotionless demeanor reduced to the innocent smile of a child. He ran to Hawk knight like a child would too. Mr E was vomited in his mouth. The puke mixing with his blood as it all left him. Lying there covered in his own filth.
Watching something he created to be an emotionless animal running to that man like a whimsical child nearly broke him.
He nearly cried even.
He watched the boy hug Hawk knight as his vision skipped away. He winced and cursed at his creation that he wanted gone a few moments ago because it was weak. The weak didn't deserve the world. They deserved to die.
Now he wanted it gone because it was the antithesis to everything he stood for.
Hawk knight stood over the dying man, fully clad in red and blue feather armor, raising his left boot and gently placing it on his head.
"You hate it don't you? You made him to be some kind of weapon and now he's displaying emotions and shit. Hell, I never even told him to do any of that. I'm sure he must really like killing you.Ph and beofre I forget to tell you, can you try sensing your other clones for a moment will ya?" Hawk knight mused behind his indestructible feathered mask.
Mr E felt nothing. Nearly nothing compared to a few moments ago. Most of his clones were dead. While he was busy on Max he couldn't feel these two killing them. Now only two remained. Him and the one chasing down his mutant army.
His plan was on the brink of collapse.
"Your clones are dead. The boy and I killed them all. Well, it was mostly the boy. He had a lot of fun. Can't talk thanks to you but his smile says a thousand words. I'll be sure to raise him right. Nor just cuz I've come to like the kid, but also cuz it really sucks for you."
"You don't get it do you! This is more than just me! I intend to make a whole new world! You cant stop me now! You.."
I don't really care what your plans are. World domination? Destruction? Who gives a shit? You killed my friend. And now I'm killing you. It's as simple as that."
Mr E tried to scream. Let out a shout but couldn't even manage a whimper as Hawk knight lowered his large boot onto his face leaving it a sick mess of meat, blood and bone where his face used to be.
His left eye roled away from the gory mess and stopped at the nearest wall. Hawk Knight, seemingly entranced by the sight, didn't notice the boy pulling at his side.
He pouted his face and tilted his head on an odd angle as well.
"Oh you wanted the finishing blow? You are one messed up kid! Come on then let's go find the last one and be done with all this."
The boy simply smiled. His eyes lacked that human spark Austin was so used to seeing. The more one showed their emotions, the more it shown. However he didn't have that spark. His eyes were dead yet he smiled like any other normal boy.
Austin was unsettled at first but the more he looked at him the more beautiful it was. Despite the lack of humanity in his eyes, he still looked and felt human.
But now wasn't the time to think about that. Now was the time for vengeance.
And it was all almost over.
To be continued...