Chapter 1
Maxine McGrath sat on the roof of her new house, looking out over the city where she was born. She was so little when they had left, she didn't even remember what the city was like. Copper Canyon seemed so small from their house just on the other side of the river. It seemed weird to move back to the desert after living by a beach for a few years. But she had to admit, it had its charms. Of course, what was really bugging her was the fact that they were moving back to the place where her dad died. Not she even knew much about what happened and it's not like she was going to get her mother or her Uncle Farris to tell her. She didn't have a lot memories about her father, but it was still hard on her to think that she was this close to her father but no closer to finding out what happened. She had been asking for answers for years ever since she was 13, but neither of them would even talk about her father other than what happened had been an accident. And that is what frustrated her the most.
She and her mother had just finished moving in the day before and now she was preparing to go to her new school the next day, and she wasn't sure if she could be excited. She didn't have that much to look forward to. She had never been good at making friends, she wasn't much of a people person.
"Max, dinner's ready." She heard her mother call. "So please get down from the roof."
Max sighed and climbed down the tree by the roof and joined her mother in the kitchen. As she sat down, she couldn't stop thinking about this new school she was going to. It may have been in the place where she was originally from, but it still felt no different from every other time she started at a new school. New people she didn't know, new courses to learn and, if this followed the usual pattern, another bully she was going to deal with.
"You excited about this new school honey?" Molly McGrath asked sitting in front of her daughter.
"Not really." Max answered fiddling with her food.
"Max, I know I've said it a lot before, but I promise, this time it's for real." Molly said staring at Max.
"Yeah, fresh start number 9."
"8, and this time, it's for good." Molly promised.
Max wanted to believe her, but she had moved them around so much all her life, she wasn't sure if she could. She didn't really say much the rest of dinner, and stayed pretty silent while she helped her mom with the dishes, until there was a knock at their door. Molly answered the door and sounded happy with who was on the other side.
"Max, you remember your uncle Farris, right?" Molly said coming back into the kitchen with her Uncle Farris right behind her.
"What's up kiddo?" Uncle Farris greeted.
Max smiled back for moment and said hello. She had to admit, she was pretty happy to see one familiar face. She had FaceTimed and Skyped with her Uncle Farris a lot all the time she and her mom were moving around. But it was good to see him person after all these years.
"So I hear you're starting out at your new school tomorrow." Max nodded. "You excited about that?"
"About as excited as I can get starting at another new school." Max answered.
"Well, if you want my advice kid, if want to make friends when you meet new people, open with a compliment and then, if possible, give them a good joke." Uncle Farris said sitting at the table.
"You know Max, it was your Uncle Forge and his friend Miles Dread that convinced me to move back to Copper Canyon." Molly said sitting down with Max.
"So, I have you to blame?" Max laughed.
"Yep, it's all my fault." Forge laughed back.
"Where is Miles?" Max asked.
"He couldn't make it tonight, things were really busy tonight over at N-Tech. He insisted that I come to see you both and welcome you back to Copper Canyon and he asked me to send you his regards." Forge answered.
"Well, when you see him, tell I said hello." Max answered getting up. "I'm going to bed, I gotta be ready for school tomorrow." She said waving good-bye to her uncle and heading upstairs.
When she got up to her room, she switched on the tv in her room and started changing into her night clothes. As she laid back in bed, she looked up at the ceiling and saw her old mobile her father had made for her and the stars he had painted on the ceiling. As she looked at it, she heard and felt a strange humming and saw her tv start to fritz. As she moved her hand to grab the remote, she could have sworn she saw the tv screen ripple with her movement. As she looked, and tried to turn it off, the remote fried and the tv fritzed out.
"Ah crud." Max groaned laying down.
She laid awake for a few more minutes but then she started to get tired and finally fell asleep. Next time she woke up, she heard her alarms blaring beep and slapped it off. But as soon as her hand hit the button, her clock popped like a firecracker.
"What the heck?" she said startled awake. "That's just great." She exclaimed throwing her hand in the air.
As she did so though, her hand started to glow blue. In a moment of panic, she flipped over and shoved her hand under her pillow. When she pulled it out again, the glow was gone, but she could still the vibrating surge that came with it.
"Hurry up sweet heart, or you'll miss the bus." She heard her mom call up to her.
Max quickly changed into a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans and then slipped her denim jacket, decorated with all kinds of pins, on and grabbed a piece of toast from the kitchen. "Have a good first day sweetie." Molly said kissing Max's cheek before she left.
"Thanks, love you Mom." Max said as she bolted out the door.
Max hopped on her bike and rode down the street to her bus stop. When she arrived, she locked her bike up to the bike rack and waited under the canopy. As she stood waiting, she could have sworn she heard some other kids snickering at her. As much as her common sense was telling her to ignore it, she couldn't resist turning her head to see who was laughing.
"Hey fresh meat, where'd get those clothes, Badnana Republic?" a girl in a cheerleader's uniform yelled to her.
"No, I just decided to wear something that didn't make me look like something the Jersey Shore chewed up and spit out." She shot back.
The cheerleader and her companions reeled back in disgust. "You better watch it newbie." She warned.
"Funny, I was about to tell you the same thing." Max answered.
"What a freak." The girl sneered to themselves as they walked off.
"Nice job standing up to the Terrible Threesome." Max heard a guy say from behind her.
She turned around and saw a guy with streaked blonde hair cut at mid-length down his neck, a little shagy, but Max had to admit, it made him look pretty cute, and brown eyes. He wore a red t-shirt tucked in his faded blue jeans, under a green button up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and combat boots.
"No big deal." Max answered. "Let me guess, the queen bee, am I right?" she asked. Mr. Friendly nodded. "What's her name, Jewel, Gwen, Jessica?"
"Miranda, but everyone just calls her Mandy." He answered. "I'm Carter, by the way."
"Maxine, but people just call me Max." Max answered shaking his hand.
"Nice to meet you."
"Same to you."
Max then noticed another girl not far behind Carter. She wore light blue baggy jeans with holes in the knees and sandels, along with a faded green tunic topped off with a brown fringe vest that hung as long as the tunic. Her hair was a flaming red color and tied back in a messy pony-tail with a leather head-band wrapped around her head. She had a long chain around neck that hung a crystal.
"Your aura is a dazzling shade of electric blue, you have an amazing amount energy coming your way." She said taking Max's hand.
"Uh, thank you." Max answered.
"Sorry about that, this is Kendra." Carter introduced her.
"Max." Max introduced herself to Kendra.
"Our great earth mother smiles upon our meeting today." Kendra answered shaking Max's hand and then putting her crystal in it. "May she bless and watch over you this day."
Max took her hand back and looked at Carter. "You get used to it." He answered. "I've learned to just roll with it."
"Thanks." Max answered as the bus pulled up.
Max sat with Carter and Kendra close to the back and the three of them talked a lot on the way to school. By the time they arrived, Max felt a little more secure having met people who for once didn't want a piece of her for being the new girl. And if she was being honest, she thought maybe she had finally found some friends. As they walked up to the building, Max noticed Miranda with her friends by the door. Max tried the ignore her, but as she walked in the door, she felt someone trip her and she fell on top of Carter, spilling all their stuff everywhere.
"Oh, look the new girl's first hook up of the day." Miranda laughed as she and her friends walked away.
"I'm sorry." Max tried to apologize.
"Don't be, she does this a lot." Carter answered. "She likes being the center of attention, so when a new kid shows up, she shows them up." He explained helping Max get their stuff back together.
"The earth mother will not tolerate this. I swear one day, that negative energy bringer will face our mother earth's judgement." Kendra said handing Max her bag.
"Thanks guys." Max said as they started off for class.
School went on pretty smoothly the rest of the day. As Max left the building to wait for the bus, she saw Kendra being pushed around by Miranda and the other cheerleaders. They were tossing her crystal necklace above her head. Came to her aid and grabbed the necklace before another cheerleader could catch it.
"Seriously, I mean, I thought we were all supposed to be in high school now." Max said giving back to Kendra. "Or maybe your brains haven't caught up with your bodies yet."
Miranda scowled and she and her friends closed in on Max. "You know for cheerleaders, you're not very cheery." Max laughed as she took off running.
With each step, Max could feel herself getting faster until suddenly, she felt herself burst out at a speed that as far as she knew shouldn't have even been possible. When she finally stopped, she leaned against a light post for support, but the humming started again and the light popped just like her clock. When she looked, her hands were glowing again. She quickly kept running and until she was sure she had run all the way back to the bus stop and found her bike. She unlocked it and rode home. As she as she got home, she locked herself in her room and, after finding rubber gloves, she got on her laptop and started searching for anything that could tell her what was happening to her.
But all her searching brought no results. All she could figure was that this was definitely something she was going to have to keep from her mom and Uncle Farris. Max stayed quiet that night, she didn't really talk about her day with her mom over dinner other than saying her day was fine and how she had made two new friends. The rest of the night, she spent up in her room trying to figure out what was happening to her. When her mom if she was okay, all Max could say was that she was fine, just tired. When Max was finally alone, she heard her phone ring.
"Hello?" Max answered.
"Hey Max, it's Carter from school."
"Hey Carter." Max answered. "How did you get my number?"
"I didn't, I got your phone and you got mine." Carter answered. "Must have gotten mixed up this morning when you fell on me."
"Sorry about that."
"It's okay. How about we meet up and switch back?"
"Sounds great, see you at school tomorrow?"
"Actually, I'm gonna be at a dentist appointment tomorrow, wisdom teeth removal, but we could meet up another day." Carter explained. "You know the smoothie joint by the arcade?"
"I think I can find it."
"Great, I'll meet you there on Friday." Carter said hanging up.
Max almost laughed seeing that she and Carter had gotten their phones mixed up. But then she realized she was going to have to be careful. If her strange touch caused technology to overload and blow up, then she could not mess up Carter's phone. She kept the gloves on until she was ready to go to bed and carefully set Carter's phone down away from her so she wouldn't touch it in her sleep.
The next morning, she watched where she put her hands, although she wouldn't have minded fritzing out Miranda's phone, just to see her reaction. As the school day went on, she could feel an uncomfortable buildup of energy inside her and didn't know what to do about it. How could she let it out without anyone seeing or getting someone hurt or something broken? What was this energy and where was it coming from? How was she doing this and did she make it stop?
All of this rattled in her head as well as a high pitched whine that rang in her ears as she felt her head begin to throb. Finally, school ended and she sat out by the door waiting for the bus to take her home. She felt Carter's phone buzz and saw he texted.
'Hey, I got a text from your Mom saying that your Uncle wants you to meet him for a little uncle/niece bonding time at dinner.' It read. 'Said he would meet you at the Lava Grill.'
Max texted back. 'Thanks for telling me. Again sorry for taking your phone.'
'No sweat. Just don't lose it.' Crater replied. 'Have fun with your uncle tonight.'
'Will do. Thanks again.'
Max took the long walk to down town finding the Lava Grill. When she arrived, she found her uncle waiting for her at the entrance. He led her to their booth by the window at the back.
"You been behaving yourself at school?" he asked as their drinks arrived.
"As good as I can be." Max laughed. "Made two more friends than usual."
"Yeah, your mom told me about these new friends of yours. That Kendra kids seems like something else."
"Yeah, she is, but she's nice enough."
"Good to see that you're starting to open up to people."
"Feels good." Max answered sipping her root beer.
Max and Uncle Farris swapped chit chat for a while longer, but Max could feel the throbbing getting worst and the energy build up becoming unbearable. Finally, she excused herself to the bathroom. Inside, she splashed some water on her face and tried to breathe, but her head felt like it was going to explode and her body started to surge again. The lights started to flicker and finally the bulbs popped and the light went out. When she looked in the mirror, she saw her chest was glowing and she couldn't make it stop. She had to get out of there.
She ran back out and told her uncle she had to go. She listened as he called out to her but she kept running. She wasn't sure how long she kept going, but when she finally looked at where she was, she saw she was in the middle of the desert. She couldn't keep her mind focused, the energy was too much.
Max collapsed on the ground and felt the energy surging to the surface. In a moment of pain, she screamed. At that point, she blacked out. When she opened her eyes, she saw she was back in her room. Her body ached and her head was spinning. She wasn't sure what happened, but she was just happy to be home. When she sat up, she saw her sheets had been burned. As puzzled as she was, she was too groggy to care. She got up and went to the bathroom. As she looked in the mirror, she saw her shirt had burn marks too. When she went to pull it off, what she found made her gawk.
"What?" she gasped seeing the burn marks on her chest.
She pulled her shirt off completely and got a better look at the burn marks. They didn't seem too serious, but now that she had seen them, she felt the twinge of the burns. She opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed a bottle of pain pills. But she got the strange feeling that she was being watched. When she looked in the mirror again, what she saw caused her to lose her head.
"AHHHHHHHH!" She screamed jumping out of the bathroom. She slammed the door shut and grabbed her baseball bat.
In the moment she took her hand off the door, the thing she saw flew out the door and hovered close to her.
"No! Get back, stay away from me!" she screamed at it.
A small black orb in white armor looking shell with a single blue eye kept hovering and flying around her room like it was trying to get closer to her. The little orb had two arms with thumbs but no fingers, and little frill looking flaps on top.
"No! No!" she kept screaming. "What do you want with me?"
"Max." it answered quickly.
"What?" Max asked confused. "You just said my name, what are you are, how do you know my name?"
"Just put the weapon down Max, everything's okay."
"Oh crud you speak English." She gasped. "What are you? What are you doing here?"
"I am an Omega class Bio-parasitic unit. My matrix is designed to absorb and control my host's energy. I am here to protect you from whatever is trying to kill us."
"What am I supposed to call you?" Max asked still startled.
"I, I don't know, I think it was, it rhymed style… AXSTEEL…Steel, he called me Steel."
"What's that, who called you Steel?" Max asked confused.
"I don't know, I seem to have had some damage to my memory core, not sure what happened."
"That's helpful." Max groaned.
"Max, what's going on up there?" Max heard her mom coming. "Are you alright?"
"Oh crud, my mom's coming." Max gasped. "You gotta hide."
"Is my mom dangerous?" Steel asked charging up.
"No, just…" she stopped him and shoved him into her closet and opened the door before Molly could open the door.
"Sweetheart, what's going on up here?"
"Nothing, I just, I had a nightmare and fell out of bed." Max answered.
"Are you feeling alright? Forge said you just took off on him last night during dinner and you were out cold when I came home."
"I'm fine, I just, I had a stomach bug." Max quickly answered trying to keep her mom from coming into her room. "But I'm fine now."
"Well, if you're doing alright, you need to get ready for school. You've already missed the bus. You're really going to have to pedal if you're gonna make it to school on time." Molly said as she went back down stairs.
Max sighed in relief and shut her door. Steel barreled back out her closet. "Wow, you really need to clean that out." He said looking around. "Oh, I see it, I got it." He said crashing into her and clinging to her body.
Max pushed him off. "What did you do that for?" she yelled pulling on a shirt from her closet.
"There was a buildup of TURBO energy in your body, I absorbed it." Steel answered.
Max didn't know what to think about all this. All she could do was change her clothes and she put Steel in her backpack. She then ran out the door and rode her bike down the street as fast as the pedals would take her.
"Okay look, I'll take you back to where I found you and you call home or whatever it is you do."
"No, Max, you don't understand." Steel answered, his voice echoing in her head.
"Whoa, you're in my head." Max gasped.
"Max, you're going to be generating that TURBO energy the rest of your life and because I linked with you, that is the only thing that is keeping me alive." Steel explained.
"Well, can't you just break the link?" Max asked as she pedaled on.
"I can't, without your TURBO energy, I would starve to death after you explode. No, once linked, the effects are irreversible, as in unbreakable."
Hearing that made Max hit the breaks on her bike, stopping them with a jolt.
"What do you mean unbreakable? We talking like, 'til death do us part' unbreakable?" she asked feeling freaked out.
"Yep." Steel answered coming out of her backpack.
"So what, you did this to me?"
"No, you did this to me. Your TURBO energy reactivated me and right now, I'm the only one who can keep your energy from causing you to go critical."
"So, is this going to kill me?"
"Yes, if I'm not around." Steel answered.
Max laid her head on the handle bars. "That's just great." She groaned and rubbed her temples. "Look I don't have time for this right now, I gotta get to school." She said shoving Steel back in her backpack.
By the time she made it to the school building, it was just barely time for the class to start. She saw Carter and Kendra by the classroom door.
"Oh crud," Max said remembering Carter's phone.
She pulled it out and saw that it was fried. "Oh man, Carter's going to kill me."
"Who is this Carter fellow and why would he want you dead?" she heard Steel ask through her mind.
"I kind of destroyed his phone."
"May I see the device?" she heard him ask but didn't pay much attention.
"I really messed this up." She muttered to herself.
"May I see the device!" she heard Steel yell in her head.
"Not so loud." She hissed. "Here you go." She said dropping the phone in her backpack.
Max saw Carter and Kendra coming and she felt her heart start to race. Out of nowhere, the phone popped out of her backpack and into her hands, fixed and good as new. Max had to admit, she was impressed.
"Hey Max." Carter said as they came up. "You remembered to bring my phone."
"Yeah, but I thought you were out for mouth surgery." Max answered handing him his phone as Carter handed her hers.
"Yeah, well the doctor had to reschedule. Family emergency. But I'm glad he did." Carter answered. "I finally got my phone back."
"Yeah, me too."
"Max, are you okay?" Kendra asked staring at her.
"Yeah, why?" Max asked feeling uncomfortable.
"Your aura is pulsing with anxiety. You have had some really big changes in your life happen, haven't you?" Kendra asked putting her hand on Max's heart.
"If I say yes, will you please take your hand off my chest." Max said feeling very uncomfortable.
"Poor thing, your scared and confused."
"Uh what?"
"It's all over your aura."
"Uh, that's great, but maybe we should get to class." Max said moving Kendra's hand from her chest.
"That girl has clearly caused a lot of problems for you." She could hear Steel say. "Maybe we should kill her."
"No!" Max hissed. "She's not dangerous, and neither is Carter. She's just a little strange." Max said as she sat down.
As algebra carried on, Max kept having to remind Steel to be quiet. "The equations are a lie, this human doesn't know what she's talking about. Don't listen to her." He muttered to her. Max nudged her backpack to tell him to be quiet.
She saw Carter looking at her. "I left my iPod on." She lied.
"No you did not, don't lie to him." Max kicked her backpack again.
"Listen, you're gotta be quiet." She hissed through their link. "If anyone sees you, I don't even want to think about what they'll do to you or to me." She warned him.
"Message received, silent treatment now."
Max groaned but was relieved when he stopped talking. Finally, school was over for the day, but Max still had a lot on her mind. For starters, this whole thing about being linked to Steel and him being the only thing that was keeping her from exploding. And having to keep it a secret from her mother, her uncle, and her friends. And to top it off, all this about her having this TURBO energy that Steel was talking about, and how he was supposed to be protecting her. Where did her TURBO energy come from, and why was Steel the only one who could keep her from going critical? All of this was starting to make her head spin.
Before Max could leave the building though, Carter stopped her. "Hey, I'm sorry for not telling about my appointment changing. I forgot you and I were supposed to meet up and switch back phones."
"Hey, no worries." Max answered.
"But hey, could we meet at that smoothie place I told you about another time?" Carter asked. "Say tonight at 8?"
Max felt her heart rush. "Yeah, that would be awesome. I would love to."
"Bad idea, really bad idea." She heard Steel say.
"Would you stay out of it?" Max hissed.
"What?" Carter asked.
"Nothing. So, see you tonight?" Max answered.
"See you tonight." Carter answered walking away.
Max watched Carter walk away, and would have probably stayed longer if she didn't feel Steel start to squirm in her backpack. She grabbed it tighter close to her and then ran under the bleachers by the football field.
"Max, that human clearly has set some kind of mind control virus on you." Steel said once he was out.
"Maybe you should just stay quiet when I tell you you need to be quiet." Max snapped back.
"See, he has made you angry."
"He's not dangerous, he's just a…" Max tried to say but she found she couldn't finish.
She wasn't sure what she thought of Carter as. Sure he was cute, and he had just asked her out, but at this point, she thought that they were still in the 'friend' zone.
"He's a what?"
"He's a friend." Max answered. "And you need to learn to keep quiet. I don't want anyone finding out about you."
"Because of the 'I don't want to think about what might happen' bad stuff you think will happen."
"Yes."
"Well, if you're so worried, maybe we could ask your mother for help. You claim she's an ally."
"No, no I can't come to her about this." Max answered. "There's no way she would even, I don't know."
She suddenly felt Steel latch onto her leg. "Will you cut that out?" she said shaking him off.
"No, I will not cut it out." Steel answered. "Whenever you get worked up, you generate energy. Clearly your mother triggers a lot of anger in you."
"No, it's just, I don't know. She is always saying that she wants me to know my dad, but she won't talk about him. She won't tell me where he was from, about his family, what he did for work, or even," she breathed feeling her eyes getting wet. "how he died. I've tried asking my uncle about him but he's just like Mom. I don't even remember what he looked like, I just wish," she paused and looked at Steel. "Why am I telling you this?"
"Because I'm here for you Max, which means you can talk to me about anything." Steel answered as Max sat down and rubbed her eyes.
"I just wish I could remember something, anything about him. Even if it was just what his laugh sounded like." Max continued. "But even though I don't remember, I still miss him."
"I understand." Steel answered. Max saw him looking pretty emotional. "I don't even remember where my home is, but I still miss it."
"I'm sorry." Max answered. "But hey, if you could just remember anything from before, it might help both of us. Just try not to force it."
"You're right, you're right. We should get back, your mom might be home soon."
"Yeah." Max said picking up her backpack and let Steel settle inside.
She found her bike and made the long bike ride home. By the time she got home, her mom was just pulling up in the drive way. She raced inside and hid Steel in her room.
"Stay here and stay quiet." Max said at the door. "I'll be back in a minute."
She raced downstairs and met her mom, but was surprised to see her uncle Farris there too.
"Uncle Farris, what are you doing here?"
"There was a break in at N-Tech yesterday and whatever was taken, we traced here." He answered.
"What, if you think that I…"
"Easy kiddo, I'm not saying you did, but I still need to find what was taken." Uncle Farris stopped her.
"Well, if I'm not in trouble, I'll be up in my room. I need to get ready for my date tonight. So, yeah, please just privacy please." Max said feeling her heart racing as she slowly made her way up the stairs to her room.
"Uh, Max…" Molly tried to stop her but Max was already shutting her door.
"Steel, you gotta hide. My Uncle Farris is here and if he finds you here, oh crud." Max said in a panic. She suddenly felt Steel latch onto her body again, knocking her down. "Are you going to ever quit that?"
"Nah, probably gonna keep doing it." Steel answered. "Now, what about…"
"No time to explain, just hide in my backpack. I need to get changed and head out to meet Carter. And since it seems that I can't leave you here, you'll be coming with me." She said pulling her shirt off and switching it out for one of her nicer blouses, a white blouse with violet roses all over it. She then changed her baggy jeans for a pair of her denim skirt that met just above her knees. Shaking off her tennis shoes, she put on a pair of black ballet flats that tied around her ankles. She then quickly brushed her neck length brown hair and put on a bit of make up so that she didn't look like such a mess. She chose a violet headband to keep her hair back and then she evaluated herself in the mirror. She wasn't dressed for a date with the president or anything, but she seemed descent enough for a date with a friend.
Once she was ready, she grabbed her backpack and rushed out the door before her mom or uncle could stop her. She grabbed her bike and pedaled off. When she made it into town, she locked her bike up on the first bike rack she saw and then walked the rest of the way. She found the arcade and saw Carter waiting for her outside the smoothie joint.
"Wow, you clean up nice." He said seeing her.
"Thank you." Max said feeling herself blush. "You look nice too." She said seeing his white t shirt under an electric blue blazer.
"Shall we?" he said offering his arm.
"We shall." She answered taking it and he led her inside.
They took their seat by the smoothie bar and ordered their food. As they talked, Max noticed she started to feel the surge again, and she began pleading that it would stop.
"You gotta calm down." She could hear Steel tell her.
"Hey, you okay?" She heard Carter ask.
"Yeah, why?" Max answered.
"Well, you just seem a little tense. Was this a little…."
"No, it's not this." Max stopped him. "It's just this whole thing about moving here after all this time. I was born here, but I don't feel like I'm home. We moved around a lot when I was a kid. I can't even remember the last time I was able to hang out with any friends like we are now." Max answered.
"Well hey, even if you do move, we can still be friends." Carter said taking her hand. "But if you want, we can…" he started to say but then trailed off as he started to lean in toward her.
Max didn't say another word as she caught herself leaning in to meet him, but their lips never met. Max suddenly felt the shop shake. Carter seemed to feel it too. They ran out the shop and saw a giant rock monster tearing up down town.
"We gotta run." Carter said.
"Max?" Max heard her mother call her.
"Mom, Uncle Farris?" she said seeing her mother and her uncle there too.
"What are you doing here?" all three of them said in unison.
"Max?" Carter said.
"You go on, I need to stay with my family." Max said.
Carter took off and Max and ran with her mom and her uncle for her uncle's car. Feeling her backpack beat against her, she tried to keep it from opening. Now she really didn't want her mom or uncle seeing Steel. Not with that monster chasing them.
"Forge Farris, why are there Elementors chasing my daughter?" Molly demanded.
"Ele, what now?" Max said confused.
"Elementors, Max. They are ultralinks that can manipulate and control the elements." She heard Steel answer.
"Max, what was that?" Uncle Farris asked.
"Nothing, just uh.
"Maxine McGrath, you better tell me what is going on right now." Molly demanded.
"I don't know, I don't know what's going on!" Max yelled.
Suddenly, the car jolted and Max dropped her backpack and Steel fell out. Molly and Uncle Farris seemed greatly surprised to see him.
"Steel, what are you doing here?" Uncle Farris asked.
"Wait you know him?" Max asked shocked.
"You know me?" Steel asked equally surprised.
But no one was able to explain anything with the Earth Elementor hot on their tails.
"Max, we need to link up." Steel told her.
"What?"
"Just trust me." Steel said latching on to her and seeming to suddenly warp around her body, coating her in a suit of armor.
"Steel, what did you…"
"No time for that now." Steel answered. "Listen, I can help you. My knowledge of battle strategy and your power will help us take that Elementor down."
"What, are you nuts?" Max yelled. "I can't fight that thing."
"Not alone, but trust me, we can do it together." Steel said.
Max wasn't sure what to do at this point, but with no other options, she let Steel take the wheel. Steel talked her through what to do and them seemed to be holding their ground pretty well, until they saw Fire Elementor about to barbeque her mother and uncle.
"No!"
"Max, throw me."
"What?"
She felt Steel lock her armor as he let go of her. "Throw me, a concentrated blast should be enough to snuff that hot head's flame."
Max wasn't sure what he was talking about, but she did as she was told. Charging up her powers through Steel, she let him go as he made contact with the fire monster. In a blinding flash, the fire was out and the monster collapsed. Max was ready to breathe with relief until she felt something tackle her from behind.
"Too small, too weak, too bad." Earth Elementor growled tossing her around like a rag doll before knocking her lights out.
Max wasn't sure how long she had been out, but when she opened her eyes again, she found she was still in the armor Steel locked her in, but she couldn't move. She tried to move her hands, but they were strapped down.
"Oh good, you're awake." She heard a familiar voice speak to her.
She turned her head and saw someone she hadn't seen in a long time, but after seeing him now, she wished she hadn't. Miles Dread, only he didn't seem like he did the last time she spoke to him. He almost seemed sick, like he was dying. And he wasn't dressed like she thought someone working with her uncle Farris at N-Tech would. He was also wearing armor, like she was, but his seemed designed for something else, and she was afraid she was about to find out what.
"What do you want from me?" she snapped at him.
"Oh my, you do have a lot of fire in you, just like an old friend of mine." Miles smiled. "Yes, you do remind me so much of him. But you're here because I heard you're special, that you are, literally, flowing with specialness. And that, my dear, is why you and I are going to be good friends."
"With a friend like you, who needs enemies?" Max snapped.
"Oh, don't worry, we're going to get along just fine." Dread said raising a claw to her chest. Max suddenly felt her TURBO energy rapidly draining. "Mostly me, thanks to you, my new best friend."
Max started to lose consciousness when Dread finally stopped. "Yes, thanks to you, Miles Dread will be a powerful man, once more." That was the last thing she heard before she blacked out.
The last thing she remembered thinking was, 'Steel, where are you? I need you.' Then she lost consciousness all together, feeling scared and alone.