So here's the second chapter of my story.
First of all, the Disclaimer: Still not owning this, and making no money of it.
I'm not sure if I got Max right, but I decided to upload it anyway.
I hope you all like it, and thanks for the reviews, they're awesome.
Max knew he was playing a dangerous game. He had no way of knowing how the martian would react to being provoked, but he had been desperate to draw its attention away from Alex. Well, he had obviously succeeded at that. He had seen her getting weaker by the minute and known that she would not be able to stand her ground much longer. It wasn't like Maxwell Lord to care. To act against his self-preservation. After all, he could have simply jumped, parachute on his back, leaving the DEO-Agent to her fate. But he didn't. Instead he had put his life at risk. And it scared him, more than the menacing alien he was facing now.
"Ouch, that hurt", Max replied mockingly trying desperately to hide his fear
"How dare you mock me?!"
"Why should I not? I mean look at you. You're a hideous pathetic being. Fighting a mere human and yet unable to win?" Inside, he was trembling, he wanted to run, to jump, just to get away. Everything that was Maxwell Lord told him to leave now, flee, escape his fate. His eyes flickered to Alex, seeing her crumbled on the floor, gasping for air. She held her arm somewhat awkwardly, her face contorted in pain. But when she caught his glance she looked back at him, determination shining in her brown eyes. Drawing strength and hope from them he mentally prepared himself for whatever was to come next.
The alien growled. "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME PATHETIC!", launching itself at him with raw uncontrolled rage.
This was it. This was his chance. He sidestepped the alien flying at him, leaving the space in the hatch free for the alien to fall out. Unfortunately his plan didn't work as he had envisioned it. Instead of tumbling out the hatch the alien just stopped short of it, more furious than ever before.
Oh shit. This was going to get really ugly. He quickly went through the options he had. Initially he had planned to get to Alex after he had gotten rid of the alien and either get the control of the plane back, or give Alex another parachute. But that would not work now, would it? So he needed to act. Act fast.
Well, first things first.
He tossed the rucksack with the parachute to Alex, crying out her name. He saw her eyes intensely focused on the flying object, her hands reaching out to grab it from the air. At the same time he made out the alien flying right behind it, straight at Alex. He stood, unable to do anything, hoping against hope, that she would somehow, anyhow be able to survive the attack that was bound to come. He felt blood rush through his veins, his heart hammering wildly in his chest, despite the cold fear that had put its clammy fingers around it and squeezed tightly. There was nothing he could do. Nothing to prevent the inevitable.
He stood paralysed watching the events unfold themselves before him. Somehow Alex managed to get out of the flying path of the alien, successfully avoiding her fate for some more seconds. Awkwardly fiddling with the parachute she finally secured it on her back, just in time to sidestep yet another attack by the alien.
"Jump", he heard her scream as if wall were separating them. His limbs moved of their own accord, carrying him to the hatch, jumping off the edge, despite the small part of him, that whimpering in a far corner of his mind, screamed at him at the same time to stay.
He fell.
Gone.
It wouldn't have bothered the multibillionaire Maxwell Lord. Just another casualty like so many others before her. He would have simply carried on with his life, never even giving her death another thought.
But that other part of him, that part named Max felt a slight sting at the loss. Just slightly, not so much as when his parents had passed away, but still undeniably the same emotion. He didn't know what she had been to him, he didn't really want to know, but it was definitely more than just Agent Danvers. A friend? Could he call her that?
Max didn't feel the air rush around him, didn't notice the green surface of that thing called earth getting closer by the second. He didn't notice the body falling from above right at him until it was flying alongside him, having spread out her limbs as well.
"Alex?", he asked turning his head to the side to get a better look a her, disbelieve evident in his voice.
Had she really survived it? Somehow managed to jump out the hatch before being ripped to pieces by that terrible creature?
"How did you…"
"Tougher than you thought, hmm?", she replied cheerfully, although Max noticed that it was forced. She was clearly out of breath, in pain, and terribly cold, judging by the chattering of her teeth and the blueish tint to her lips.
As he glanced over her, his heart stopped.
No, no no, this was not true. This could not be true. Not after they had come so far.
"Your parachute, its… its ripped", his voice slightly trembling, hoping that she wouldn't notice.
"Oh that. I know. I already noticed"
He fell silent, his mind blank not knowing what to say to that.
"Max?", came a concerned voice.
"Yes?"
"I just want you to tell Kara that I love her", she said looking down sounding almost frightened, timid even. "Please"
He felt himself slightly break at that. But Maxwell Lord didn't break. There was nothing there to be broken. And yet, hearing her, facing her death, pleading her final wish to him, he could not help but break a little. Whatever breaking that was.
He looked into her eyes and found determination and courage covering the fear behind. The fear that was mirrored in his own. Fear of losing her, fear of losing this little part named Max.
He would not let Alex Danvers die. He could not let her die. There had to be a solution to this. There always was. Some way they would both be able to survive. He considered giving his parachute to her, but that thought was immediately crushed by his egotistical self. That far he had yet to come.
His mind was churning, a calmness filling his body, the same calmness that invaded him when his was working on a scientific or engineering problem. Time seemed to slow as ideas flew through his head, one being dismissed after the other. Too risky, impossible, too little time, impossible.
Suddenly he felt a weight on his shoulder. Turning he noticed that Alex had put her hand there.
"Max, I'm fine. It's alright"
"No it's not"
The idea hit him like a flash. Undeniably it was risky, but not so much as the other options. The odds were working for him, even if only slightly so. He had to try. And he had to be fast. There was almost no time left, or they would both most definitely lie flat on the trees covering the wide expanse below them.
"Get your parachute off"
Alex looked at him questioningly, but noticing the urgency in his voice, quickly did as she was told.
Max moved swiftly, encompassing her neck with his arms, wrapping his legs around her waist.
"What the hell do you think you are doing", she screamed at him, craning her neck to look at him.
"Saving your life, what else?", he breathed into her ear, pulling the trigger of the parachute.
Their rapid fall was stopped in an instant, them being immediately pulled up again in a sudden motion. His grasp on her tightened out of reflex, clingy to her as if his life depended on it. Which it didn't. But hers did.
"Saving me didn't include strangling me to death, did it?"
"Sorry", Max mumbled immediately loosening his grip at little. At that moment, he suddenly noticed how close they actually were and felt his heart slightly picking up pace. His limbs were enveloping Alex in a tight embrace, which given other circumstances would have been considered intimate, his face nestled in the crook of her neck, his lips almost touching the cold skin there. He wanted to cross that small distance that separated them, to know what the smooth skin felt like under his lips. He restrained himself, not knowing why, but sensing that he shouldn't.
He'd been attracted to her from the first moment they met, but he'd been attracted to women before. Maybe it was her appearance, maybe her intelligence even more so, most likely a combination of both. And Maxwell Lord hadn't shied away from telling her, flirting whenever the opportunity arose. But as time had passed, he had found himself enjoying her presence for more than her witty remarks and her looks. He had found something far more precious, a tiny friendship blooming, if that was what one could call it, fragile as a timid flower in the new spring. He found himself trusting her, caring for her, more than he did for any other person in the world, which, considering he was Maxwell Lord after all, did not actually mean that much. But still to Max it was something unique and treasured.
He took in his surroundings, in an attempt to distract himself from the close embrace they were in. Green forest was covering the expanse beneath them, a river winding its way through the woodland, glinting lazily in the dimming sunlight. In the far distance he could make out mountains, the first stars shimmering behind them. He was caught up in a moment by the beautiful scenery before another thought entered his mind.
They were in the middle of nowhere. Wilderness was stretching on in all directions, no sign of civilisation anywhere to be seen. Great.