A/N: Sorry this took so long, been busy with school and real life. Sorry and hope you enjoy this next chapter.


As the seconds ticked silently by (aside from the sounds of chaos all around the pair), Max had to fight harder and higher to control the ever growing urge inside himself to essentially ditch his friends and go into battle without any sort of plan other than simply 'take them down'. Sure that was likely to be the main plan anyway, but in order to successfully defeat the four combined Elementors and Dread, everyone needed to be able to work together as team and in order to do that, they needed a plan so no one would get in anyone else's way. Speaking of teams, while N-Tek was normally an organization that liked to keep things "in house", that is within their own ranks, the facts were that one, there was no way to get anyone else inside the city safely or alive without being spotted and second, even if they could get inside there was not enough time for them to do so.

Stuck with only their limited numbers, Farris was forced order every individual to do whatever he/she deemed necessary to win the war on their town, not thinking at that point just what exactly that would end up including. With the battle raging on in every part of the city and quickly diminishing their once strong numbers, Farris slowly found himself temped to give the order to break N-Tek's cardinal rule of secrecy. Looking around, he easily saw that they needed help and they needed it fast, no matter where it came from.

After another hour of intense fighting and losing countless more due to either death or serious injury at the hands of these monsters, Farris finally cracked and sent out the one message he always hoped he never had to. Bringing his watch communicator close to his lips, he urgently spoke, "To any all N-Tek agents still out there, listen carefully to this message as I only have time to give it once," briefly pausing both for dramatic effect and to ensure anyone who could listen to his message was. "I know this will be hard for a lot of you to hear after years of secrecy on your parts, but the time has come for us to rely on those closest to us, that is to tell a select few of our closest family and/or friends the complete truth about what you really do every day. I'll tell you now that this option does not come around often, so for those of you who feel up to this unique challenge, I strongly suggest you take it. Farris out."

Instruction complete, the man immediately got back to work, shooting and taking down as many of Toxon's goons as he could before either being injured or killed. Little did he know that his nephew Max had already implemented his words long before they were even given. Currently Berto, Sydney, Kirby, Max and Steel were already at base explaining the truth and getting ready to plan their own attack.


"Ah, I never get tired of that," Max happily sighed, casually hopping out of the transport and walking over to join his friends who still looked a little green, but were getting better. Coming up behind the two chairs, he could easily make out their slumped over postures and asked, "Oh, you two alright?"

Shakily looking up from the cool drink, Sydney slightly raised her right hand and carefully replied, "Yeah we will be Max, just-just give us a minute or two," before dropping her hand and returning her gaze back to her plastic container, currently the only thing that did not appear to be at an odd angle. Never having been on a ride with such speed combined with at least two loops in a few years was enough to send her for one. When it came to coasters, she typically preferred the ones that were pure speed with no loops, no matter how rare those were. This was due to the fact that when she was about twelve, her friends convinced her to go on a ride called "Silver Bullet" at a place called Knott's Berry Farm and was slightly nauseous and dizzy for the next few hours. From that point forward she promised herself she would never go on another ride with loops ever again if she could help it.

Satisfied with her answer, Max nodded his head in conformation and proceeded over to his best pal inside N-Tek walls and so as not to disturb his friends whispered, "You sent out C.Y.T.R.O. right, because until we can get out there, you know as well as I do that he is our best defense. The carnage outside is already bad enough; we do not need it getting any worse." Despite only being an agent for the better part of two years, Max and Steel found themselves increasingly able to work alongside Berto in order to create the best C.Y.T.R.O. they could with as few flaws as possible. Sure there were always going to be some, as nothing was ever perfect, but at N-Tek they strove to come as close as possible especially when it involved their weapons and gadgets, as there were times that without those they would have surely lost the battle against whoever or whatever it was that they were facing. For the newest C.Y.T.R.O. this meant ensuring that there were no openings that something like a water Elementor could get into and short circuit while at the same time protecting C.Y.T.R.O. himself from being able to be remote controlled by someone other than them. This was done simply by having both the remote and the receiver inside the robotic machine constantly going through a simultaneous channel sweep every two minutes.

Confused for a second as to whom he was talking to, Berto whipped around from his console to ensure it was Max and jokingly answered, "Did that before you even got here dude. Also, did you realize that you sound just like your uncle when you said that last part about things getting worse?" Over these short two years, the older man had become like a surrogate father figure to the teen, both inside and outside the walls of N-Tek. Two of the most notable times typically occurred when Farris tried to hold Max back from a given mission usually due to inexperience or being too close to the situation and again when he had to punish the teen for something such as going behind N-Tek's back for some reason or other. Due to their close relationship, Berto knew that it was only time until the younger agent began picking up some of the man's habits and ways of talking.

Max shuttered at the idea alone (as what teen wants to be anything like another member of their family), and clamped a hand down on the young scientist's shoulder before sarcastically shooting back, "Please don't say that bro, cause then I might start acting like him as well and I don't think anyone could handle two of him. I'm sure you agree that the holobot is bad enough when you're not the one controlling him," recalling an April Fool's Day prank from about a year ago where he had Steel discreetly take control of the machine and insanely order Berto around for about half the day until a mission involving Toxon just had to interrupt their fun. Of course upon finding out about the prank, the young scientist swore revenge on the two. "Now imagine if that had been me instead of the holobot."

Casually leaning back against his console, Berto crossed his arms over his chest and playfully laughed began, "Yeah I remember that, not fun. Although that reminds me, I still have yet to get you two back for that." Uncrossing his left arm he held it up with a single raised index finger and semi-seriously continued, "And before both of you think that purposefully hacking into and messing with your modes during that training session was enough, let me remind you that I only did it because Farris ordered me to. He wanted to see what and how well you both would do if something similar to that ever actually happened in battle. Obviously you both passed, but that was only after half a dozen attempts."

Just about to retort that it was only because of his constantly changing which mode did what, such as his flight mode triggering his strength mode or speed mode triggering his scuba mode or simply not functioning at all, he was interrupted by his uncle coming over the communication link and sending out the message for any and all willing agents to give up their secret in favor of saving their town. Hearing the man begin to speak, Berto immediately turned back around to once again face his station in the likely event he was ordered to do something to better help those out in the field. After hearing the message and realizing that in fact he was not needed, Berto turned back to his friend, crossed his arms over his chest again, but this time with a cocked head and raised eyebrow and sarcastically asked, "Ok is there something you're not telling me, such as the fact that you're physic?"

"Wouldn't that be something," Max smiled and joked in return, throwing his head back for extra emphasis and catching a glimpse of his two other friends in process. "Oops, forgot about Kirby and Sydney. You know Berto, it's going to be weird having them know after this. I mean with how I've somehow managed to keep it hidden from them for this long….Sort of hard to believe."

Unable to do anything but agree, Berto glanced down at the floor then back to Max before sighing and saying, "I know what you mean. While I haven't spent as much time around them as you have, I've still been around them long enough to somewhat understand what you mean." From this point forward, no longer would either have to make an excuse to leave and save their town if not the world. That and should anyone begin asking questions about either Max Steel and/or Max McGrath, they could really help.


A/N: Well there you guys go, hope you like this as I sacrificed my study time to write it and yes the big reveal scene will be in the next chapter. I don't have it written yet, but I hope to have it up by the end of this week, that is by Sunday. Please don't hold me to that as my life has a funny way of changing at the last possible minute. Also now that you've made it this far, please feel free to leave a review and tell me how much you loved or hated this chapter or the story in general. Even if you do hate, please do not feel bad for saying so. As long as it is not a flame, I can handle anything. Now, thank you so much for reading this far and hope to you next chapter.

Fictionwriter28