Okay, new story. I am familiar with the character's in the Sam and Max universe and yes I am aware that I have deviated from the norm a little. I hope you like it.

Chapter 1

"C'mon Sam, I want to try this!" Max's simple sentence would normally have not alarmed anyone, what he wanted to try definitely would have. Sam stood rooted to the spot his eyes covered with a blindfold Max sharpened a fist full of throwing hatches.
"Max, I really don't want to do this, normally I'm all for target practice, but not when I'm the target!" Max looked up briefly from what he was doing with a matter of fact look on his face as he responded, "Well its only fair, you put things on my head and use me as target practice." Sam had to admit that in some twisted sense of fairness that it did make sense. He began to pray quietly that Max's aim would be better than usual.

"There! Alllll Done, now hold still, this wont hurt at all." Sam audibly gulped as he braced him self. Max put all six of the throwing axes in one hand and covered his eyes, He pulled back and then threw them. One, two, three, four, five, and six resounding thuds echoed through the room. "Oh I can't look!" Max was now covering his eyes with both hands, slowly he moved a few fingers apart and looked at the wall where Sam stood. Almost as white as a sheet stood Sam, completely unharmed. "Woo Hoo! It didn't kill you!" Sam slowly removed his blindfold, finding it difficult with his trembling hands. "For which I am very grateful." Max held his face, blushing and said, "Oh Stop! You'd do the same for me."
"Use you as a living hatchet board, not a chance!" Max seemed to think that this was an insult, at least for a moment, he opened his mouth indigently and stopped, his eyes moving as if deep in thought. "Ohhhhh, Thanks!" Sam pulled the hatchets from the wall, noticing as he did so that Max had chalked on the wall behind his back the words 'Kill Zone' in big letters. He moved to wipe them off when Max suddenly yelled, "Don't wipe that off, it'll serve as a reminder of the time I didn't kill you in an almost certain death fashion." Sam shook his head, "Whatever floats your boat Max." Max put his hands to his face again, his eyes sparkling happily as he said, "I have a boat? Did you get it for me? Oh I hope it has missile launchers on it!" Sam shook his head quickly, trying to cut Max off before he had to go get him a boat, "No I didn't get you a boat, its just an expression." Max immediately deflated with a resounding "Awwwww!"
"Maybe next year, Little buddy." Max immediately perked up again as he sat back in his seat with his eyes closed, probably envisioning a warship he hoped to own. Sam put the hatchets in his hand on his desk before looking out the window.

It wasn't the same window he used to have, nor was this the same office he used to have. It was actually pleasant to stay in now. A couple months ago they had had to move to this new office while on a major case of surprising normalness. They had been hired to take down a cult of cake worshipers who had hijacked nuclear weapons and held the country hostage until all bakeries were shut down. When they had opened the office door Max had fainted from the cleanliness and Sam had been temporarily breathless. The office was larger than their old one, with enough room for two full sized desks in it unlike their old one where there had only been enough room for his own desk and a small school desk for Max. The walls were freshly painted, the carpet brand new and very pleasant on the feet, the windows opened easily, and there were two bedrooms and and full bathroom. However after having lived here for two months, it wasn't as pretty anymore, well, the walls and ceiling weren't anyway. The carpet was still soft and comfortable and had virtually no stains, the walls all had some sort of damage, bullet holes, dart holes, axe marks, and one conspicuous hole in the ceiling in the shape of Max's head, a product of a phone call. Additionally, they had been eating reasonably better now, though Sam had agreed when Max stated that they'd both go through garbage withdrawal from all this good food.

He'd been right but Sam had been adamant that they eat normally even if it put them in the hospital. Max had thus far complied but a couple of times Sam had had to give in to the cravings otherwise they'd have probably put each other in intensive care. Sam sat down in his cushy chair and looked over at Max who had obviously fallen asleep. The move had been good for the two of them, Max was slightly less violent than usual, but only some one who knew Max would have noticed, to everyone else he was still the frightening lagomorph he'd always been. Sam pulled out his revolver and inspected it disinterestedly. Some much had changed in the past couple of months. New city, new people, better lifestyle, different cases. On some days it was almost overwhelming.
He opened the revolver and pulled out the rounds, lining them up neatly on the desk before pulling out gun cleaning supplies from it. He hadn't cleaned his gun in awhile, an obvious hazard in his line of work. He and Max were the Freelance Police. He liked to think of it as a branch of law enforcement, but he and Max had had to avoid the police in the past while trying to solve their cases. Whenever Sam had suggested calling the police for extra help Max would usually slap him or tell him that they'd only slow them down. In part he was sort of right, they would follow regulations to get the job done and on a lot of the cases they worked regulations simply didn't help matters. If the perpetrator is shooting at you, you shouldn't have to request permission to shoot back or fill out a dozen different pieces of paperwork explaining how the perp got that fatal bullet wound.

He blew down the barrel as he finished cleaning his gun before putting the bullets back into it. He flipped it shut and spun the chamber before putting it back in the holster. He sighed, rubbing his eyes wearily. It was about 9pm now, though this was still early considering when he usually went to bed, he thought that maybe it was time to turn in. He stood up, putting his hat on his desk and moving around it to pick Max up. He gently lifted the rabbit off his chair and slowly walked toward the door. Max'd be the first to deny it but when he slept, he really was a cute little thing, A fact enforced by the fact that he snuffled gently and curled closer to Sam. Sam smiled and whispered, "Adorable little tyke." Max sighed contentedly and said in a dreamy way, "I'll kill you if you call me that again." Sam's smile widened a little as he moved towards Max's room. Just as he pushed it open the phone started ringing.
Sam looked over his shoulder as a pair of large furred feet collided with his skull. He dropped Max as he staggered from the blow. Max landed on the floor on his feet and stamped on Sam's foot before sprinting for the phone. "I got it!" Sam tried to rush after him but having been caught off guard Max got to the phone first. He picked it up and said, "Hello, this is Max speaking, who do you need terminated?" Sam limped into the room and said, "Give me the phone you Knucklehead!" Max held up a hand and said, "Sam, I got this."

Max listened intently on the other end of the phone, trying to hear any sound of the caller eventually he heard what sounded like a panicked female whisper, "Hello? Is this the Freelance Police?" Max nodded and said, "Yep, we sure are. So who do you need terminated?" The caller answered quickly, the fear in the voice clearly evident, "No one, I need rescue, please come help me, I'm at 1902 Pinelake road, Come quickly!" Max jumped slightly at the sound of repeated gunshots followed by a scream. Max put the phone on the receiver and yelled as he pulled out his Luger, "Quick Sam, there's a woman in distress and she needs our help!" Sam looked at his partner curiously and asked, "Since when did you start liking woman?" Max cocked the gun and said, "I haven't I'm just eager to have a shoot out with the guy shooting at her." Sam nodded, "That explains it, well, we better not keep our victim waiting. Lets Go!" Max Screamed in excitement and rushed to the door his gun held above his head like a sword.

Twelve minutes later

The sound of screeching tires filled the air as Sam slammed on the breaks. He barely had time to register the eerie house when gunfire filled the air. Both he and Max rolled out of the car and took shelter behind it, Max was practically glowing with excitement where as Sam himself was slightly nervous, yes he'd been shot at, but never by people this well trained, he could tell they were by the fact that he had felt a bullet graze his cheek before he got out of the car. Max looked over the car at the house quickly before ducking back down behind it, "I'd say about 15 of them Sam, 3 snipers and 6 machine gunners and 6 sharpshooters." Sam looked over the car as a bullet ricocheted off inches from his face. "What's the difference between a Sharpshooter and a sniper?" "Sharpshooters are accurate, snipers are precise." A few more rounds thudded into the car as Sam cocked his pistol. "Max, I don't think were prepared enough for this!" Max fired a few rounds from behind the car followed by a scream from the house, "Sam don't think about the statistics and just shoot!" Sam had never fired his gun with the purpose to kill, heck, he hadn't actually killed anyone with it, but now... He pushed the thoughts from his head as he leaned around the car and pulled the trigger.

The fire fight went on for what felt like hours. By the time two of the fifteen perps remained both Sam and Max were both sporting bullet wounds. Sam had been hit in the arm, thigh, and ear. Max had also been hit in the ear, leg, arm, and had a ricochet hit his left cheek. His face had gone from wild excitement to intense anger when he realized that these guys were actually try to kill them. Max reloaded his gun again as Sam took another few shots, taking out the last two with a few well aimed shots. Sam and Max sat there for a few minutes to be sure that the coast was clear. Sam slowly stood up, in part due to his leg and looked around. "I think we got them all, you alright Max?" Max snorted as he wrapped a piece of cloth from the med kit in the trunk around his leg and another around his ear, "Do I look alright to you?" No he didn't admitted Sam, but then, he couldn't look much better. He kept this med kit in the trunk because of the high likelihood that he'd need it where Max was involved, he never thought he'd need to use it on himself. After bandaging their wounds as best they could the moved towards the house, guns out and loaded. They moved between cover as well, not wanting to risk any surprises. Both were tense but by the time they reached the house, it seemed clear that there would be no more surprises. Sam slowly pushed open the door to the house while Max brought up the rear, he was doing his best to ignore the bodies lying here or there. They usually didn't bother him, but these were of his own creation. They slowly began a search of the house, floor by floor. The first floor was empty, the basement as well.

Sam was beginning to suspect that this had been a trap, possibly laid by the remains of the cake cultists but when the opened a bedroom door on the second floor they received a surprise. A black furred lagomorph sat bound to a chair. Max's breath caught slightly as he looked at the creature. It was female, this much was clear. She wore a dress which was torn and dirty, her shirt was a light white that clashed well with her fur. It too was damaged and dirty. She looked as though she had been severally beaten, blood was evident on her shirt and dress. Sam moved slowly into the room but Max however pushed past Sam and moved quickly to her side, "Hey, are you alright?" Sam was more than a little surprised by this reaction, he had half expected him to cut her loose and be his usual crude self, but for some reason completely unknown to him and all of science his personality seemed to have completely changed. The woman slowly stirred and opened one eye, the other seeming to not respond. She let out a weak laugh of relieve that turned immediately to sobs as Max cut her loose. She slumped against him, sobbing uncontrollably. Max looked at Sam as if to say 'Help Me' but Sam chuckled and said, "You got yourself into this, you get yourself out."
"Gee thanks Sam, I really appreciate it!" Max looked at the woman in his arms and tried to imitate those tv cops he sometimes watched, "Umm... Don't worry, everything's going to be alright now, your safe." He looked back at Sam, who nodded in approval. Max handed his gun to Sam and lifted the woman to her feet. She barely had the strength to hold onto him, let alone stand. Max sighed in a resigned way as he shifted in front of her and picked her up onto his back. "Oof, Okay, I'm not giving anymore piggyback rides after this." Sam smirked as he said, "Why not, you look so.." Max interrupted him sharply and said, "It is so important to your health that you not complete that sentence!" Sam chuckled again as Max staggered out the door.

How'd I do? Please review.