"-And thank you for flying with Fortress Air. Have a nice day!" Is all a certain teenager managed to catch as he removed his bright neon green headphones from his head with a particularly large and definitely necessary yawn. The teen himself didn't feel at all tired but merely stiff from the who-knows-how-many hours he spent seated on the airplane. The teenager is Max Hebert: fifteen year old, brown haired, mischievous, borderline genius, destroyer of all cookies everywhere.
Max stayed seated as the passengers beside him retrieved their hand-held luggage from the shelves above the seats and to him it seemed as if they were physically trying to be as slow as possible but, through no small amount of effort, he managed to stay patient long enough to be able to walk of the plane without further incident. After going through airport security he went straight to the conveyor belt to retrieve his belongings before too many people were crowding it. And as luck would have it the moment he arrived to the belt he saw his suitcase! He reached for it with a triumphant smirk on his face but before he could pick it up he was distracted by a familiar voice calling his name.
"Max! Over here!" He had no doubts as to who it was that was calling for his attention he turned momentarily forgetting all about his bag as he jogged over to his cousin and he, uncharacteristically, hugged her as he laughed joyously at seeing his cousin again after eight whole years! Absentmindedly he noticed how different she looked. Her once dark brown hair had tuned jet black and her once bright blue eyes had seemingly dulled over time and looked sort of…empty. He quickly shook his mind of such thoughts as Danny Hebert, his uncle, approached the pair with a gentle smile but kept his distance from them which made it exponentially harder for Max to try to "Scan" him as he did Taylor.
After exchanging pleasantries with him he returned to the conveyor belt to retrieve his bag which happened to be passing by again as he reached the belt, now swarming with people, as he feared. He managed to retrieve his bag without being distracted this time but it felt strangely…heavier? 'That's weird I could have sworn my clothes were lighter than this' he thought to himself as he tried to look for the tag he had been required to attach to the bag but it seemed to have either fallen off from the lack of attention he gave it as he was tying the tag or it was accidentally removed by one of the workers. He simply shrugged as he turned around and went to where Taylor was waiting for him since Danny went to bring his car closer. Funnily enough if he had waited only twenty more seconds he would have seen his own bag roll on by the belt to be picked up by a professional looking man in a suit and tie and some shades hiding his eyes.
"There we go" Danny muttered to himself as placed Max's into the back of his sedan. Max and Taylor were already seated inside with Taylor sitting in the passenger seat and Max seated in the seat behind her. "So what's it like in Central City?" Taylor asked curiosity evident in her voice as she turned in her seat to face him. "Kind of normal really. Nothing interesting has happened much since the particle accelerator explosion" He answered with a nonchalant shrug. "Really? Nothing at all?" She asked a bit disappointed at the news. The accelerator explosion happened about a year ago and contrary to popular belief it did absolutely nothing but cause damages to S.T.A.R (Scientific and Technological Advanced Research) labs where it was being held. Sadly many brilliant scientists died that night and the founder of the company found himself a surviving paraplegic without the use of his legs.
"Yeah that's all. How about Brockton Bay?" Max asked knowing of the recent bombing by the mad tinker Bakuda and the devastation she had caused. Before she could answer Danny entered the car. She turned back around and put on her seat belt as he turned the car on and began driving back to their home. Grateful for the break Max soon found himself falling asleep but not before noticing a fly flying around in strange patterns almost as if it was being controlled.
"M…ma…macks…Mags…Max!" Max's head shot up due to his surprise he unfortunately forgot he was still in the car and he hit his head on the roof with a resounding Bang! Max groaned loudly from his newfound position across the seats beside him. "I thought seat belts were supposed to prevent that…" he mumbled as he removed said object from its slot with a dull click. "S-sorry" Taylor managed to stutter during her laughing fit. 'Traitor' he thought to himself as he exited the old sedan, minding his head this time. "Where's Dan- I mean your dad?" he asked catching his mistake as he stretched. "H-he already went inside with y-your suitcase" she answered releasing the remnants of her laughing fit with giggles. "Come on. I'll show you around" she said as she began walking to the front door skipping over the rotten first step with practiced ease and leading him to the front door which was, of course, open. After a rather short tour of his new residence, a rather old double-story house with the bedrooms upstairs along with the bathroom and recreational space downstairs along with the laundry room and the kitchen. "And here's your bedroom" Taylor decided to end her tour at his new room as she swung open the door to reveal a rather bland room but with an already made bed calling his name. "Thanks. Actually do you think I could go to sleep now? I'm still pretty tired from that flight and I don't want to collapse on the floor. It's too dirty" he joked as he entered his 'domain'. "Yeah that's fine I'll just go tell my dad. Goodnight" Taylor answered as she gently closed the door after Max responded in kind.
"I guess I'll just put on some pyjamas. Now where's my-oh. There it is" He thought as he approached his suitcase that was sitting quite obviously on his bed. As he picked it up to place it on the floor he forgot its sudden increase in weight and he dropped it straight down on the carpeted floor with a crash and he heard something that sounded like glass shatter inside it. 'I…didn't pack anything fragile' He thought with worry evident on his face as he crouched down to the zipper on the side of the suitcase to open it. Without hesitation he opened the case expecting to see the suitcases insides themselves broken due to their old age he was definitely surprised when he saw a large clear vial that would have been full had it not cracked and spilled an unknown substance all over the suitcase. Suddenly whatever the substance was reacted to the carbon dioxide he exhaled and it seemed to jump straight at his face! Due to the fact that he was kneeling on the floor and he was so close to the suitcase there was no room to dodge the liquid as it latched onto his face and forced itself into his mouth and nostrils not letting him breathe as it forced itself into his bloodstream through some veins and capillaries putting him into a great deal of pain as he writhed helplessly on the floor. The liquid found itself going from his heart to his organs and his spinal fluids to his bones and finally to his brain. At that point Max had fallen unconscious from the pure unadulterated pain he was going through but he had made enough noise to attract Taylor who was in the room adjacent to his. Due to his lack of response she entered his room to find him unconscious on the floor with a sporadic heartbeat and no discernible breathing pattern but one thing was completely obvious to Taylor: something's wrong with him! Rushing to the downstairs landline she quickly dialled 911. She was answered immediately by an operator telling her to stay calm as they sent an ambulance seeing as Danny had left to buy some groceries and she wasn't as well versed as she would have liked to be in first aid.
After the paramedics arrived they found no way to explain Max's state and immediately rushed him to the Angels Heart Hospital which was only a short drive away, well at those speeds anyway, and they rushed his still writhing form to the ER where a team of doctors were waiting. Even though these doctors were professionals and had more than one hundred years of experience collectively they could not explain what was happening. And just as they thought they had found a way to stabilize him the worst thing imaginable happened: He flatlined.