Okay, good back again. Hello people crazy enough to read this, thank you for your continued support. It means really so much to me that so many people are reading this, it's not even good. You probably need standarts but .. well I should stop complaining before I scare you away.

So ... still stressed, got to write three seminar papers before uni starts again and I'm honestly so exhausted. I had to cancel an exam because I won't have enough time to study for it. Shame on me.

But hey, I found some time to finally kind of finish this chapter. I wrote a lot on it because I just didn't like it the way it was originally planned. It just didn't feel right so ... here is now the version I'm okay-ish with.

Also I feel the need to warn you, I am crap at thinking out super villain names and this one was supposed to be scary and I come up with this ... ugh ... I hope you can excuse my fruitless attempt at naming him.

I hope you have fun reading.

Everything Just Keeps Getting Downhill

He sneaks around corners and moves carefully as he comes closer to the entrance of the holding cells. Even his breathing sounds way too loud in his own ears. He presses his lips against each other to minimize the sound.

He just has to round one more corner …

"You remember, don't you?", the voice makes him jump and hit his head against the wall. He curses softly at the sound that emerges.

Chloe is standing at the other side of the corridor, looking up at him with wide eyes, her teddy bear clutched against her chest.

"Chloe", Max breathes and moves closer to her. Just as he is a few steps away from her he kneels down to be at her height. He hates talking down to her.

"Max?", she murmurs, clutching the stuffed animal even tighter. Max smiles, relaxes and sits down, waiting until Chloe seems calmer as well. It was weird, she almost seemed like she was afraid of him and he is so afraid, that she actually is- afraid of him.

"Listen", he says and smiles, reaching out for her hand and only taking it, when she gives it to him willingly. "I do remember, I remembered since I came back. I just … I can't let them kill Phoebe. We … we are connected, her and me and she means so much to me. She's not that evil person, not really", he sighs. Chloe smiles and nods, like she understands what's going on inside of him and he almost doesn't doubt that she actually does understand.

"You'll leave, won't you?", she asks. Max nods, unable to say anything else.

"Then save her", she whispers. "Save her and make her good again", she grins at him before she teleports back. Max blinks at the place where Chloe just stood. A smile curling onto his lips. He's really going to miss her.

Her heart is beating loudly, as she listens to her siblings talking to each other in hushed voices. She knows Max could be deceiving but she believed that she would be able to see through it. She really thought that she knew him enough.

Nora closes her eyes and bites her lower lip, scrunching up her face as she tastes the copper. She doesn't want Phoebe to die, she wants her siblings back, but what she wants less is losing both of her older siblings. She never thought she'd be able to choose, but right now, Max is the right decision to make and if she has to fight him to keep him save then so be it.

She hasn't had super-hero training for nothing, she is a full grown (well mostly) woman now and she has to fulfil her responsibilities. Such as protecting the world from a crazy supervillain former super-hero.

She sneaks down the halls and then waits behind a vase. Her advantage is that she has been playing here with Billy for years now and knows the hideout perfectly. It doesn't take long until she can see a dark figure running towards the entry of the holding cells.

Nora's heart is beating against her chest hard. It's now or never.

"You remember, don't you?", she says, repeating Chloe's words from earlier, making Max stop in his tracks. She sees him visibly tense and freeze. He turns to her, forehead frowning.

"What are you talking about, Nora?", he asks, his voice is slightly shaking. But it's more than a feeling Nora had for the last few days. The way Max carries himself now, it's subtle but there. Just these little quirks, like when he draws his eyebrows together when he thinks. The impatient finger drumming when he is bored, the effortless lying he mastered at a young age. The slight lift of his mouth when he succeeded in doing something. It's all there now. And the conversation she overheard only proves everything. She feels stupid not have talked to him earlier. She should have, even though she knows she didn't to keep the illusion of their new life alive.

"I know you, Max. You are my brother, I just know you", she says.

"Do you", his tone is almost mocking and it scares Nora. It scares her because she doesn't know what to expect of him now, what is he going to do? How is he going to behave towards her. What is he capable of doing now. It sounds so different from him talking to Chloe.

"Yes", she says and she wonders, whether it's true, whether it was a good idea to come here all alone. Maybe she should have dragged Billy with her. She's not as strong as Max, even with her powers growing these past years. If Max has regained his knowledge, he knows perfectly well how to use his own powers and that is not good for her.

"Well, then tell me. What am I going to do now", his voice is carefully neutral. Like he hasn't decided yet himself. She wonders if he'd be able to hurt her. He did freeze their Dad, but then again, he only froze him. He didn't harm him in any other way. All he wanted at that moment was to get Phoebe to safety and right now he had no idea where his twin was. And what if Nora wouldn't tell him. Would he use violence against her?

"You're going to free Phoebe", Nora says, voice careful and slow. Max nods and stares at her. It looks like he's thinking about what to do to her. The look sends a shiver down her spine.

"Are you going to stop me?"; his voice is low and rough, making Nora swallow uncomfortably.

"You know I will", she says and Max doesn't look like he's surprised at all. He doesn't look like he hates her either. His eyes are going soft again and for a moment, a short moment she hopes that he'll just stop.

"Yeah, I know. And I hope you know I don't want to hurt yo, but I can't have you interrupting me", he flicks his wrist, too fast for her to comprehend it before she flies into the wall. She coughs and tries to stand up, to stand against her brother, but then she feels a cold surround her. Right now, Nora really hopes that this is all that he'll do to her.

Max hates it, hates freezing his own sister, but he has to do it. He can't have her intervene in his plan. He knows that the cold prison won't hold her for long, so he has to get going. He follows the description drunk Hank gave him the day before and ends up in some kind of basement … a basement in the basement. It shouldn't be as funny as it is and Max can't hide a smirk. Slowly he creeps through the corridor, there are many holding cells, most of them are closed and empty as much as Max can see. He creeps forward, quietly. The last thing he wants is to make someone notice him. But all is forgotten when he sees her leaning against the bars, her whole body limp.

"Phoebe", he gasps and trips towards her then falls down to his knees. Phoebe raises her head, a smile on her pale face.

"Max", she sighs. Through the bars he grips her hand. She feels cold.

"They injected something in my skin, like a tracking device", she murmurs sleepily. Right, that complicates things.

"We have to cut it out, you know we have to, because they will find us otherwise", Phoebe says. "They keep their sharp objects over there", she continues, pointing to a small, innocent looking nightstand.

"What? They-"

"No", Phoebe snorts, shaking her head, which is more like a lulling from one to the other shoulder and back. "They thought they could scare me with it. Though they didn't take in account that we survived the years under torture alone. Also, there is nothing from them that would scare me to tell them anything", she smiles at him, but they know that she is bluffing. She would never say anything if it was her that was tortured. But she would be willing to say so much, if it was him that would be tortured, and they both know it.

It's him that knew it too and used it as well.

"So back to business", Phoebe says again, pointing at the nightstand.

Max walks over to it and pulls some sharp knifes out of it. Phoebe, still standing where he left her, nods at him.

"I'm okay", she says, thrusting her left arm towards him. The skin is red and he can see a faint light blinking. "Just cut it out".

He probably should be afraid, arguing, feeling guilty, but what he does is make a clean cut. Phoebe presses her skin together and the tracking device pops out. Max rips a piece of fabric off his shirt and wraps it around her bleeding wrist.

"Let's move", Phoebe tells him as soon as he put a knot in it. He wraps her healthy arm around his shoulder and walks with her, since she is still shaking a little. Walking, they leave the tracking device behind.

Barb jerks out of her sleep as soon as she hears the alarms blaring. Hank is up next to her, shouting and jumping to his feet.

"What is going on?", he asks, turning to her. Barb shakes her head and pulls a shirt over her night gown and shimmies in some jeans.

"It's the holding cells", some super-hero screams.

Oh no. Oh god no.

She starts running, hearing Hank behind her coming the same way. She sees her fears confirmed when she sees Nora standing there, frozen. She gulps down the need to help her daughter and runs towards the holding cells, she pulls, but the door doesn't give.

"Crap", she curses, throwing her whole weight in it. She already knows, that her lightning won't help, the door is made of Thundertanium, it will hold.

"Hank", she shouts, though he I already there, pushing her out of the way as he rips the door open. More heroes have gathered behind them, all of them ready to fight.

"It's Dark Phoenix, she escaped", a hero says. Barb is glad that he doesn't call her by her given name. Younger heroes rush into the prison before her.

She should have known, she should have done something. All Max was probably thinking about was Phoebe, even though he doesn't really know her … . She shakes her head, cursing her own stupidity. She was so happy that Max was back yet again, that he was innocent that she didn't even question him. He has always been sneaky and acting like he doesn't have his memories anymore shouldn't be difficult. Why didn't she detect that he was lying? Did he gave it away? Was she too oblivious to realise that he remembered?

"Barb?", Hank grabs her hand.

"She should be here", a hero calls out and Barb smiles bitterly when she finds the small tracker on the floor, still stained with fresh blood.

"What? You didn't think she'd cut it out?", she shouts mockingly. Hank looks down at her concerned, stroking the back of her hand soothingly.

"Barb", he says again, but she shakes her head. It's all her fault, because she didn't see through the act that Max was playing? Did Phoebe do something to him so he'd remember? Did they plan this?

"Find them", Red Fury calls out and the group finally moves.

"Do you have any idea where we're going?", she asks him.

"No", he says, turning around for a second and then keeps on walking. "But we can't turn back. The heroes will be already chasing us, we can't stop.

"I know", she answers.

"Just-"

They round another corner, having left the holding cells for a while now. He has no idea why there is such a long tunnel. There is nothing- at least he thought so, but from the dark two heroes appear, one, hands of flames. The other one just stares at them, hands raised.

Max looks over at Phoebe who nods at him. She stops right there and watches, her joints are still stiff. He ducks under the spray of fire that the hero throws at him. With his telekinesis he moves the feet of his opponent. He drops down, though with a smile on his face. There's a second he worries what that means when he can't move anymore. He grits his teeth, and tries to animate each muscle, but to no avail. He can't even speak.

"You need to leave", the hero who holds him tells him. He wonders why he talks to him, but just after his words, he is thrown against the wall. The hero with the fire hands is up on his feet again, blasting somewhere to his right. He hears Phoebe hiss. Thanks to his twin attacking, the power that stopped him from moving has lost its grip on him. Max blows his freeze breath at him, which stops him. He knows because of his heat it will stop him for a short time, but hopefully that's all they need.

He turns around to Phoebe, smiling at her. She grins in return and moves over to him.

"Let's go", he says, taking her hand. They get up and start walking. It could have been perfect.

Clapping stops them dead in their tracks. Almost in sync, they turn their heads, looking over to the source of the sound.

There in the far corner is another cell, someone is leaning against the bars, a mocking smile on his lips. Max freezes all over, feeling like he has to throw up.

"What is he doing here? Alive and well, and … ", Phoebe shouts enraged and Max can't blame her. He took away everything they had. Their life became a living hell after that and their parents just held him captive, without doing anything to him? What could possibly have given them the idea that keeping him alive was a good idea? He is everything bad in the world. And here he was, grinning at them, sharp teeth visible as his lips are stretched into a vicious smirk.

The Destroyer.

When they were young and without any knowledge, they thought he was just playing important, as they've never heard about him. But they quickly realised that they only didn't hear of him because there were no people alive or sane enough to tell about his deeds. He wasn't being evil because he wanted fame or to be feared, he did everything because he had fun doing these things and he loves breaking his victims.

"Why aren't you dead", Phoebe spits out. The man behind the bars puts a hand on his chest, as if her words wound him.

"I am too important to die. Don't you get it, dear? I am the only one with all the answers, I am the last resort they have to stop you", he points a finger at Phoebe and licks over his teeth.

"Then why shouldn't I just-"

"Wait", the Destroyer interrupts her and he grips the bars tighter, his knuckles whitening with the force he uses. "I can help you. I want to get out of here and so do you. Why not become … partners?"

"Partners?", Max echoes hollowly and then shakes his head. "Forget it. You are the reason all of this happened. If it weren't for you, we'd be living happily ever after or some other crap."

"What do you think, Phoebe?", the Destroyer ignores Max and hefts his black eyes on his twin.

Max can see that Phoebe seriously thinks about this idea and it makes him so angry, that she honestly considers taking his offer. He grabs her roughly by the arm and then pulls her away from the prison cell. "Phoebe, we can't trust him. He will … he will destroy us. You know he will. We can't trust him!"

"Max. All we need is to get out and then-"

"Then what? We let him go? Did you forget what he did?"

"No, I want him to pay for all he did to us as much as you want, but maybe he can help us. Mum and Dad had him all this time and they didn't make him pay for his crimes. Is that fair? They must have at least an inkling about what he did to us, how much he hurt us and they just locked him up here. I believe he even got nice meals and .. an ...", she swallows heavily. "So, why shouldn't we use him and punish him later?" Phoebe talks with such a conviction, that Max almost wants to believe her. Almost. He looks back to the man, his smile widening almost comically and his black, dead eyes opening wide. Max is fairly sure, that he doesn't feel anything.

"Max, we need to go now, come on", Phoebe urges and even though the thought makes him sick to the stomach, he nods his consent.

When she is finally free, everything's going to hell. People are running around, screaming and panicking. Nora is still cold, but her head is clear. She has no idea how long she was frozen, but right now that doesn't matter. She needs to know what exactly is going on, now.

"What-?", Nora starts but a senior hero interrupts her already.

"Phoebe Thunderman, she is free. And so is The Destroyer". Nora feels fear settle down her belly. No. No, why would they do that? Why free the most vicious villain to ever know? He is known for never showing mercy, for enjoying his victim's pain and loss. And her siblings should know that best.

"Damn it, Max", she curses. Why help escape the one who ruined their lives? It makes no sense. None at all and it is making Nora angry. How stupid are her older siblings?

"Every available hero to the southern entrances. I repeat, every available hero to the southern entrances."

Nora starts running. No two minutes later, Billy is next to her, taking her by the hand and then she is on his back and in a second they are through a tunnel, looking at two unconscious guards. The way further to the outside is blocked, heavy stones must have fallen from the ceiling, stopping the heroes effectively.

She sees her mother lightning the stones up, her father throwing them away and other heroes helping. But Nora already knows with that kind of headstart, there will be no way of stopping them.

Shaking her head, she smiles bitterly to herself and turns around.

"What, Nora?"

"Billy, don't you see? It's already over".

End Chapter 10

Okay people, we're getting to the more intense stuff now. I also think we're about halfway there. At least, maybe already over half. Whatever. So, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't be afraid to comment, I would love to hear all of your thoughts on everything that has happened.

Also as always, thank you so much to my reiewers:

DarkSoul378: I'm really happy that you like the story. I am always working on them, when I'm in the right mind set. So here is a new one!

Valkyrie: I won't! Promise! I will definitely end this story. Anyways because the ending is all written out and I kinda love it and want all of you to read it.

lucayathegood: I am always so happy to read your comments. They always make my day and are so fun to read and I just think about my own writing through you it's amazing. I really hope you're not disappointed with how the Max/Nora relationship went down.
Yes, the flashback also has another use which will be revealed in like … a few chapters down I hope? Not quite sure when but it is also definitely to kind of understand them more, which I think is important because you have their deeds on the one hand but without excusing what Phoebe did, just trying to make readers understand and you just summed it up so brilliantly. Thank you.

Please never stop writing such awesome reviews it like gives me life to keep going and motivates me in the best ways, so thank you!

Joog: OMG this can't be more exciting than Sherlock, like I mean what? No. Just … well I hope you like this chapter .. *hides behind a stone with a stupidly happy grin*

WickedInk:Thank you so much. I am so happy this story means so much to you. And like, you were almost right. Before writing it I was playing with two thoughts, them being Chloe and Nora and I wanted both of them to confront him, but with Chloe it had to be earlier since … well fighting and so … yeah.

The Elementist:Omg really? That's awesome. Gonna check it out once I have time!

Lili:Thank you so much. I am happy you like it!