After he heard that voice, a hand was suddenly placed on Max's shoulder, which made him turn around immediately, just to find a tall and robust guy in front of him. His faultless uniform was indicating that he was no one else but the mall's security guard. Cherry reacted at the same time and she turned to face the man too, confused by the situation.
"Hey kid, I think I know you." The man said, as he was coldly watching him.
"Excuse me?" Max asked, apparently unknowing who was talking to him.
"Yeah, it's you. I told you and your sister were banned from this store." The guard said without stop looking him.
"Uhmm... I think you've got me confused with someone else." The teenager replied with a mocking smile.
Max actually knew who this person was, he was the same guard who busted him taking the coins out of the mall's fountain a year ago, the same who wrongly blamed Phoebe, believing she had stolen from Sarah Finn store. He was the same guard who abruptly kicked them out of the mall and got them banned for life. He remembered that day, due to the events, he couldn't do anything to stand up for them. And it's not that he cared about being accused of robbery, because as a villain, it wasn't important for him. What he didn't liked at that moment, was the fact that he did the same to his sister.
And without even knowing it, from all of the days, today he had the opportunity to take his little revenge, and he wasn't going to waste it. So, Max paid attention to the place around him, trying to find something he could use, and right after that, he saw the number 205 on the guy's badge. For Max it seemed very ridiculous to have that thing on the chest, as if he was part of a cattle marked with numbers. It was something he wouldn't like to be part of. But the officer, thinking he was distracted, he kept questioning him.
"You know what banned means, right? It means you and your sister can't get inside here, except for this lady. But you need to leave." The man said, pointing the exit with his thumb.
"Okay, you got me, but you know what?" Max answered, trying to get more time.
"What?" The man asked.
"Before you take me out, you have to dodge the billboard first." Max said at the same time he moved his index and medium fingers to use his telekinesis.
"Dodge what?" The guard tried to say...
He couldn't finish his sentence because suddenly, one of those big billboards fell from a high place and landed right on the security guard, quickly throwing him to the floor. Max could make a fast backward move along with Cherry, and when he saw that guy on the floor, he finally got the advantage he was looking for. Now, there was only one thing to do.
"Run!" Max yelled at the blonde as he pulled from her wrist.
They ran away as fast as they could leaving the security guard behind, who immediately tried to stand up and then he ran after them among the galleria's big hallways. At one point, Max turned behind him and at the distance, he saw the guy running with all his strengths, he was definitely not going to give up, so as he ran with Cherry, he tried to think something.
They left a lot of stores behind them, and at the distance, Max could see a big bubble gum machine, and when they passed close to it, he quickly moved his hand and using his power, he threw out hundreds of candies and then they got spread all over the floor, and the officer slipped when he arrived there, which made him fall to the floor once again.
No matter how many times he tried to stood up, the poor officer couldn't stand with all those dangerous candies spread on the floor. Far away from there, Max and Cherry looked behind them and they couldn't help but laugh with such a funny scene. When they could finally take control of his laughs, the blonde girl spoke:
"That was awesome Max! As I said, you really know how to have fun." A very excited Cherry said.
"Of course Cher-Cher." The young super villain answered.
"It's great to have powers!" The blonde said, without fading her smile.
And then, they put their fist together, and at the same time they said:
"Superpowers!" Max and Cherry exclaimed, just before they simulated an explosion as they separated their hands.
But right after that, there was a voice that cut off their celebration:
"Come back here you punks!" The guard yelled, shaking his hand in the air.
Immediately, both teenagers ran all the way until they crossed the entire mall. They quickly walked up through some electric stairs, and just when they got really far from their pursuer, the teens could finally have the opportunity to stop and find a place to take some rest, and they found the perfect place next to the elevators.
They stayed there for about 15 minutes, just talking and laughing on what happened on the lower floors. Max tried to remember the last time he got that kind of fun by playing with his powers, but it was difficult for him. Normally, he didn't use his telekinesis in public, and when he did, it was always against his sister. Some time ago, he and Phoebe could still have some funny days, pranking on each other, going somewhere without anyone else, or those days where they were forced to work together in order to solve a problem.
However, he wasn't very close to his sister lately, not as before, because with The Hero League and her boyfriend Link, he could barely see her in the house. He used to pretend he didn't care, and he was very happy without seeing her every day, but it was not true. He began to ask himself if that was the reason he wanted to be friends with Cherry, and spend some time with her instead of Phoebe.
And now he was there, with his sister's best friend, walking through all the stores from the third floor. Cherry was checking out the showcases and as they walked, Max found himself thinking about Phoebe, once again. Was he missing her? He surely was having a good time at the mall with Cherry, but for some reason his mind always put the same person inside of his thoughts; his twin sister. He was so lost thinking about her, that he hadn't noticed a voice that was talking to him.
"Max? Max..." The girl insisted, trying to have his attention.
"Uhm? Yeah?" Max replied, slightly confused.
"What are you thinking?" Cherry curiously asked.
"Phoe... Phoe... fibble!"He said trying to fix was he was about to tell.
"Fibble?" The blonde girl asked, not understanding what he meant.
"That guard... he was very feeble and... That's why he couldn't catch us." He could barely explain.
"Oh, you're right. We almost escaped from him by walking. Hehehe." Cherry said, joking about it.
The villain apprentice pretended he was laughing with her, but he felt an actual relief, because the girl didn't suspected what he was going to say. They kept with their walk till they got close to a store, and they stopped there to buy some chips for them, after that, they took a seat near the 3th floor border. Now the mall was getting more crowded compared with the amount of people they saw before, due to the current time. They were eating their chips but all of a sudden, they heard some commotion at the distance, and they looked from one side to the other trying to find what was going out but they didn't see anything. But then, without leaving the seat, they leaned on the backrests and looked to the lower floors. They could see at least 6 security guards spread all over the mall, and they were walking around with radios in their hands, as if they were looking for someone. For Max, it was very obvious they were the only targets, so after seeing the situation, he wanted to have more fun.
"I think they're looking for us." Max informed the girl.
"What if they find us?" Cherry asked, a little worried.
"Don't worry, I got this." The boy answered with a brag tone.
Max looked around him and when he was sure nobody was watching him, he pointed his hand and with a single mode of his finger, he dropped one of the officer's radios, and it got broken into several pieces. Right after, he looked to his right and near the electric stairs, he saw two guards were about to use them, so he focused his telekinesis to make them fall just before they could put a foot on the stairs.
Cherry was laughing out loud with all the pranks his friend has playing on the brave security officers, she would never have thought about using those powers to have this kind of fun, this was all new for her. In the other hand, Max decided they hadn't had enough so, after he looked to his left, he saw two guys that were walking to the guy who dropped his radio, and shooting a telekinetic wave with his hand, Max thrown two trash cans right in front of them, causing them to become very confused, because they didn't understand what was happening.
Max couldn't fade the smirk on his face, and just when he thought he has done, he finally spotted the guy who chased them some minutes ago, who was now looking everywhere, trying to find them. Just then, Max spoke to the blonde:
"Hey Cher-Cher... check this out."
And with a simple hand movement, Max pulled down the guy's pants, causing the poor officer to fell down once again, which made the teenager's laughs uncontrollable. However, they laughed so hard and with all that noise, the guard could finally see the two teenagers up in the third floor, while he was on the ground. So he did the best he could to stand up, pulling up his pants, and then he ran straight to the elevators, while using his radio to ask for reinforcements.
Max realized what he planned, and before the man could get in the elevator, he used his powers to throw another trash can, which prevented him to get in there. However, his movement didn't work, because in only a few seconds, some guards were running by the second floor's stairs, ready to catch them, so, Max and Cherry couldn't do anything else, and they abandoned the place, running as fast as they could, and leaving their chips behind.
Fortunately, there was an emergency exit near to them, and the teenagers could use it, in their attempts to escape from the officers. Behind that door, it was very hard for them to hold their laughs, and when they walked down the stairs, they found a door that led them outside of the mall. All they had to do now, was to use those fire escape ladders. When they realized that nobody was behind them, the teenagers were able to move with more calm.
"¡I've never been in a persecution! ¡Max, this was so cool!" Cherry exclaimed, very excited about what just happened.
"Yeah well, I think that guy finally got what he deserved." Max answered, while he remembered the moment where he and his sister were banned for life.
"Hey, I don't think we can get in there again, maybe we should go." Cherry suggested.
"Yeah, you're right. Hey, why don't you come with me? we have some popcorns, I can make them with my powers." He suggested his friend.
"Great! I really wanna see you heat spitting them." The girl said with a big smile.
"Sure. Let's clap it out Cher-Cher!" Max said, offering his own hand.
They got face to face and started to shake their hands a couple times, right before they say at the same time while snapping their fingers:
"One, two, three, four! M & C strike again!"
They put their fists together as if they were joining forces, and right before that, they laughed due to their secret handshake.
And as they walked through the big galleria's parking lot, Max Thunderman couldn't help but think that he spent a lot of time with Cherry, another blonde girl, and even if he felt very comfortable about her, he never thought about being her friend before, and maybe that's why he had a really good time with her. Nevertheless, it doesn't matter how much he tried to ignore it, in all those hours he spent with her, there was nothing that could possibly be better than the moments he used to share with his sister, because even with all those silly attempts for annoying each other, there was no other person they could be better with, other than themselves, and Max knows this perfectly.
When they got the sidewalk where they had to wait for the bus that will take them back to his house, Max could finally understand why having a very good day with his new friend was not what he thought it would be, because nothing could be better that spending time with Phoebe, and it doesn't matter if they fight all the time, he knew she'd always be there for him. With that, Max could only say to himself:
"No... It's not the same." He thought with a serious expression on his face.
To be continued...