Max was glad that it was Friday, meaning he only had to worry about school today. Staying awake at school after last night was a difficult task, but he managed to pull it off with Phoebe's help. When he arrived home the first thing he did was to sleep until dinner. After dinner, he spent some watching TV before going to bed. He needed to save his strength, he had a feeling that he would stay awake after midnight for a long time from now on.
Max opened his eyes and found himself in the living room of his house. The living room was dark, he could barely see the furniture and it would appear that the house was devoid of life.
"Hello Max," a cold voice said. Max went stiff as he recognized that voice. He turned and gasped in horror. It wasn't the evil smirk, the blood-red eyes or the malice in them that turned his stomach turn. It was the stab wound in her stomach, the blood stain on her black suit that made him recoil. "What's the matter, Max? You don't look so hot. Funny, I always thought you would be more happy to see me dead."
"No! I would never be happy to see you dead Phoebe!"
Phoebe laughed maniacally. "Don't lie, Max! You always hated me because everyone loved me more than you! The day I turned evil must have been the happiest day of your life!"
"No! That's not true!" he denied with desperation. "I was jealous of you, but I would never hurt you. Remember the night of the prom? I couldn't take your powers away, I couldn't lose you. You mean a lot to me Phoebe, more than you know."
"If you care then why did you kill me?" she asked with a sneer.
"It was an accident, I swear," he said, desperately trying to convince her, tears forming in his eyes.
His twin smirked evilly. "So, you feel guilty, do you? For all those times you've hurt me, you've abandoned me. That's the reason for your little confession a few days ago. Is that what I'm supposed to believe?"
"It's the truth, I swear," he said, his voice tight because of the node that was forming in his throat. "I'll make this right, I swear. I'll stop Mayhem, you won't become evil and we will be heroes."
The evil version of his twin just stared at him, looking into his very soul. "And what if that doesn't happen?" she asked making Max dumbstruck. "What if something else happens and only one of us can become a hero and the other one will either fall to darkness or losses his powers and be forgotten?" Phoebe ignored him and looked out the window seeing the sun rising. "The sun is almost up, it's time to wake up," she said as she walked towards the window.
"No, wait!"
Evil Phoebe turned to Max. "Goodbye, Max"
"NO, DON'T GO" he yelled as he desperately reaches for her.
"NO, DON'T GO!" Max yelled as stand up from his bed.
"Max! What's wrong?" asked a concern Colosso.
The young man let out a tired sigh. "Nothing, just a bad dream. Go back to sleep."
While Colosso was able to go back to sleep, Max wasn't so lucky. The clock read 6:30 AM, two hours early from his usual time when he woke up. With a frustrated groan, he got up and sketched the blueprints for his new suits. At 7:30 he finished and decided to prep his workbench for work and went upstairs and wait for his family. This weekend his parents are going to go to Metrobourg to read his mother's late uncle's will, leaving Max in peace to work. He estimated that building the suits and to upgrade his jetpack will take 15 days.
"Suits?" Colosso asked once he told him after breakfast.
"Yeah. One for combat and the other for stealth," he explained as he worked.
"So are you going to wait for Mayhem do make his move?"
"No, I'm going to strike first. The last time we fought him we won by the skin of our teeth. I'm going to hunt the bastard down."
"So how are going to find him?"
"I'm going to shake down the villain league until I find him."
"Oh, Max," the former villain said as if he was taking if a child. "Despite the fact that they formed a league, they aren't as tight as you think. There is a high chance that none of them will know where Mayhem is."
"There must be someone who knows his whereabouts. I know for a fact that the Son of Scalestro works for Mayhem, so when I'll find him I'll probably find Mayhem or he'll point in the right direction. All I have to do is find Scalestro and everything will work from there."
"That's... actually quite a good plan," the rabbit said impressed
Max's signature smug smirk was plastered on his face. "Did you forget who you're talking to?"
"Hey, what are doing?" Max asked from the door of his twin's bedroom.
"Practising my candidate speech for the tomorrow's presidential election."
"Oh, is it tomorrow?" he asked even though he knew.
"Yeah. Hey what do you think of my T-shirt?" she asked and showed him the purple 'Don't be dweebs. Vote for Pheebs!' T-shirt. Noticing his barely contained laughter she huffed in annoyance. "You try to find something that rimes with Phoebe!" she said and shoved.
"How about 'Vote for Phoebe. This shirt is freebie'?" he asked, smirking smugly.
"Dang it!"
Max shook his head. "I wasn't laughing because I thought it was stupid. I was laughing because I thought it was cute."
Phoebe's cheeks started to grow warm all of a sudden. "Y-you know, since you're here you could help me. You could listen to my speech and I have made a list of questions you can ask me to make me look good."
An hour later
"Well, what do you think?" an excited Phoebe asked
Max had to be careful not to hurt her feelings. Thankfully he had an hour to think about his words. "It's too long Phoebe. Remember that you are talking in front of teenagers, not scientists. Also, you didn't talk about some important problems the school has like: the hair in the cafeteria food from the cafeteria lady's beard, sandpaper instead of toilet paper and how the janitor waxes the floor before the students leave, causing accidents."
Phoebe was speechless. She didn't think Max would be of any help, much less point out flaws in her speech and come with solutions.
"Also, what your speech lack is passion. You need to captivate your listeners and bring them to your side. Let your passion flow, but not so much that it will blind your audience, make some deliberate movements like a strong hand signal at the right time for impact, have a powerful voice, but not overpowering and have clarity."
"How do you know all this? Do you make speeches when no one is looking?" she asked jokingly, but she was very impressed.
He chuckled. "No, but I know how to charm people," he said with his signature smirk on, leaning ever so slightly towards her face.
A clear blush formed on Phoebe's face. She backed away and opened her window, thinking that the room just got hotter.
Max saw her blush. He wondered what was that about, but he quickly dismissed it, remembering how his twin gets easily flustered. "What is your plan once you become president?"
"I plan to increase the school spirit by having the mascot give hugs, give rolling backpacks in order to carry the heavy books and put a healthy snacks dispenser."
"Replace the hugs with high fives, put the books online for download and instead of snacks put smoothies."
She nodded, deciding to trust his judgment.
"How is work?" he asked changing the subject.
"I stopped working for Wong a few days ago. She fired me because I messed up an order, but I think she did on purpose to have a reason to fire me. Mom said she'll give the difference of since it's not a lot of money. On Tuesday I'll have a new phone."
"That's good," he said with a smile. He managed to sell the extra components and got a decent sum. He wanted to give them to Phoebe, but since she doesn't need them he could use it to buy the smartwatch. Now if he could get that awesome computer he had in the alternate timeline he would have tech that would make Tech Rider look obsolete.
Phoebe became president which was no surprise for anyone. After he made Billy and dad move the rocks from his by threatening dad's hidden snack stash he continued working.
"Max," Phoebe call as she came down.
"Hello there madam president," he said with a smirk.
"Listen, I wanted to thank you. If it weren't for you I wouldn't have been president. So, thank you," she said bashfully which he found absolutely adorable.
"Don't mention. And I mean it. I have to keep my bad boy image," he said half-jokingly. She smiled, though it was forced and her gaze dropped on her boots. Max frowned. "What's wrong?"
"I just...I wouldn't have been president if it weren't for you and I feel like you deserve it more than I do."
"Pheebs, it's fine. I know how much you wanted to be, so I helped you. And before you say, no I wouldn't make a good president because I don't care about that stuff."
"At least let me make you my VP."
"I'll help you when you need it, but I don't want any official position."
He could tell that she was disappointed, but she would take what she could get. "So, what are you doing?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just tinkering," he said casually, as he moved subtly towards his workbench, blocking her view.
"What are you tinkering with? Nothing dangerous I hope," she said in that authoritative voice that always amused him, thinking she could order him around.
Max chuckled. "I assure you, I'm not doing anything dangerous. I'm just a little bored and decided to play a little with my inventions."
A mischevious smile appeared on her face. "Awh, are you playing with your toys?" she asked teasingly.
"Very funny, Pheebs," he said and gave her a small playful shove. "Still wearing that retainer when you go to sleep?"
Phoebe gasped in disbelieve. "How do you know that?"
Max smirked. "I must say, it works great, showing your geekiness. Relax, I'm not going to tell anyone and I don't even have a picture. Now, if you don't mind I have work to do."
She relaxed and smiled. "Alright," she said and went up the stairs. "I'll let you play with your toys."
Max pursed his lips in annoyance before continuing his work.
Thank you for reading. If you have any constructive criticism or feedback, leave a review or just PM me.