Chapter 10: The Rise

As the elevator climbed, Max tried not to think about how it was going to take him from Mephisto's palace back to the ship. It was just too confusing. Instead, he decided to focus on what he would wear. Dr. Strange had his cool cape, Tony Stark had the Iron Man suit, and Wolverine had yellow spandex. All superheroes had their signature look and Max figured he needed to come up with one of his own. Then, it dawned on him. "I already HAVE a signature superhero costume!" He wasn't sure how the new powers worked exactly so he imagined himself in his new costume. He looked down and smiled at his new outfit. The change had happened instantaneously, Max didn't even feel it happening. "So THAT'S how it works," he thought. "I just think about what I want to happen and it happens. No wand. No spells. Awesome!"

Meanwhile, back on the SS Tipton...

Most of the hostages had gotten to the point where there were no more tears to be shed. Some of them had even come to terms with the fact that they might not make it out alive. Cody, who was having trouble breathing due to his very painful, broken nose, stared at his feet, thinking of all the things he'd never get to do. On his left with her head on his shoulder, Bailey seemed to be in a trance. He figured she was probably in shock. He wished there was something he could do for her, but he knew they were all helpless. The only hope they seemed to have had was the boy who seemingly dropped out of the sky and somehow, perhaps with a grenade of some sort, had caused one of the pirates to explode into bloody mess right in front of everyone before being gunned down, his body tossed overboard. Cody wondered where the boy had come from and where he could have gotten a grenade. It just didn't make any sense. Unfortunately, there were bigger things to worry about now. Like getting out of the situation alive. He'd already made the mistake of standing up for London... and got his face smashed in for his troubles. "London... poor London..." he thought. He thought of the last time he saw the heiress. She was covered in blood from the exploding pirate and was being dragged to unknown location. To an unknown fate.

Alex and Justin sat silently next to each other. They couldn't talk to each other for fear of getting the pirates' attention. They could only sit and think. Think about their fallen brother, about ways to escape, and ultimately, about how this could be the end. Without their wands they were powerless. They couldn't call for help. They couldn't let their parents know what was happening. They couldn't say goodbye.

A quick dinging sound coming from the elevator caught the attention of the few people closest to it. When the door slid open, there were audible gasps that spread across the deck as more and more people people turned their attention in that direction. The pirates didn't react at first. They could only stare in shock, their mouths hanging open. Zack, Cody and Bailey couldn't see the elevator from where they were sitting, but they were trying to see what was going as the whispering and gasps started building. Something important had to have been going on for the people to defy the pirates' orders for silence. "Maybe it's London," Cody thought. "But if it is... I probably don't want to look..."

"Is it London?" Zack whispered.

"I don't know. We should just stay quiet," Cody whispered back.

"Yeah, we don't want anymore attention," Bailey added.

Next to the towel station, Alex and Justin had a very good view of the elevator doors and the person that was revealed when they slid apart. "Oh my God!" they both gasped in unison.

The boy stepped out of the elevator toward the nearest pirates who were stunned, either because they recognized him or because of his outfit. They started at his feet. His red Converse All-Star shoes and white socks were where the normalcy ended. Above that, the boy was wearing blue spandex tights with a pair of sports themed boy-briefs over them. His yellow, long sleeved, spandex shirt had a giant, orange letter 'M' on the chest and dangling behind him was a dark blue beach towel with lighter blue and orange sharks printed on it. The pirate closest to him started to giggle. "Who you suppose to be?" the armed man asked in broken English.

"Who am I?" the boy said with a smile. He had already rehearsed his next line while still in the elevator. "I'm Maximan... bitch!"