1x13 For the Girl who has Everything
"It's your birthday tomorrow," Jason stated. Max looked up from his desk. "We are expected to celebrate it together and that I give you a gift."
"If you don't feel comfortable, it's fine," Max quickly soothed. He didn't want to force the kid into doing anything he didn't want to.
Jason nodded, finished nodding, then spoke, "I would like to go to a diner for ice cream to give you your gift."
Max smiled, blindingly, joyfully. He couldn't stop smiling. "I'll make it happen. We'll get ice cream," he promised.
Jason nodded once. And turned on his heel to leave. Despite the abrupt exit, Max was still giddy.
Alex strode into his office at work as she always did: briskly and without an invitation. Max was still riding the high of Jason actively seeking to spend the day together and let it go without much fuss. He stood from his chair to greet her. "Agent Danvers! A surprise, as usual. What brings you here?"
"What did you do to Supergirl?"
Max smiled at his desk in dark resignation, good humor killed. "Of course. You only ever show up when you accuse me or need me. This time it's both." He lifted his head again and spread his arms in an ironic welcoming gesture. "What happened to the connection we had? Or was I just a tool for you to use and discard."
Alex slid her eyes away.
Max scoffed. "I see. Come back when you have substance to your accusations or an apology for slander." He seated himself again and pointedly went back to his work. He heard Alex leave and the door close.
Max gave up the pretense of work and ran a hand through his hair. He should have expected it; anyone who wanted to get close to him only wanted access to him; his brain, his money, his connections. Heck, he should have known when he had to pressure Alex into having a civil dinner with him just for the information she wanted.
He slammed his fist on the glass desk in frustration. He needed a break. He needed to let his mind empty. He needed to create something.
Jason slid into Max's private lab not long after that. They didn't say anything; didn't need to say anything to offer silent support, comfort, and companionship.
It was only four and a half hours later—early afternoon—when Alex returned.
Max noticed Jason tense almost imperceptibly and tap his ever-present over-ear earpiece. Holograms wrapped around his eye like a visor targeting unit. "Agent Danvers is back," he sneered.
Max smiled mirthlessly. "They must be desperate." He heaved in a breath. "Well, let's go see what she wants now."
"You don't have to," Jason protested. "I can go."
"The world still doesn't know about you. If the government were to hide you away somewhere, no one would know." Max smiled softly at his son. "I can handle it; I know exactly what I am to her, now."
Jason clearly had misgivings but he didn't say anything more.
Max left their private workshops and fortified himself before plastering a self-satisfied smirk across his face. "Agent Danvers. Back again I see. I hope you have a written apology there."
She was obviously swallowing her pride. "Look, I'm sorry I used you, but we need your help. I need your help. Supergirl was attacked by something called a Black Mercy. It creates the perfect dream world while killing her."
"And you expect me to do what, exactly?"
"She needs to reject the dream world herself. I need to go inside her mind and convince her."
"So you want me to build a device that connects your brain pattern to her mindscape. I must say, Agent Danvers, you know how to pick your enemies." He pulled out his cell phone. "Let me make a call." And before she could protest, he was dialing. "Jason? Work called. I know—"
"I heard. Go save Supergirl. Don't trust the agent. If you keep your phone on you, I can track and hear you, and stop by Lab 4C; there's some blueprints I'm leaving that might help."
Max smiled to himself before wiping it off his face. It didn't matter; Alex had seen it. "Thanks, Jason. I'll call you when I'm done." He slid the phone back into his pocket. "Alright, Agent Danvers. Let's go."
She clearly knew it wasn't for work because he had smiled, but she needed his help and kept quiet on the matter for the moment. Max picked up the hardened leather carrying case the blueprints were in.
He climbed into the front seat of Alex's car. "I'm going to have to blindfold you." She didn't sound apologetic.
"Don't trust me? You came to me to save sweet, innocent, Kara Danvers, your sister, Supergirl," he mocked (without as much venom as he could have). He held up the tube as her hands clenched around the steering wheel. "I've got blueprints to begin piecing together anyway. Give Supergirl the most time possible."
Alex nodded tersely. She began to drive as Max slid the papers out. He skimmed the designs, hiding his surprise under a brilliant poker face. Jason had designed [a not-functioning model of] a cranial device that would enable brainwaves to sync with electronics, machinery, and the internet. There were some obvious missing pieces on the work-in-progress designs, but all the original calculations were on the page. All Max had to do was a refit the connection to organic-organic instead of organic-inorganic.
Placed in neat coils at the far bottom of the tube were wires and some scrap metal already shaped into a rough full-head frame. Max smiled to himself and began fitting the wires together, calculating the edits in his head.
Seven hours and a meeting with the helpful AI Labyrinth later, Max he slumped in a lab chair, exhausted. He should call Jason, but he couldn't bring himself to move.
Alex walked back in. "We're good to go," she said, sounding just as tired as he felt. "I'll give you a ride back to LordTech."
Max nodded and finally slid his phone free. "Jason, I just finished up. I'll be back in two hours."
"Get some rest. The world still needs Maxwell Lord," Jason responded softly.
"But—"
"We'll do it," James assured his father. "There's time; the world won't end tomorrow."
Max got home and crashed on the couch, not even making it to his room to undress before falling asleep.
Max blinked in the dim lighting, vision clearing to see his familiar ceiling. He cleared the sleep crust from his eyes with a thumb.
He stretched out the crick in his neck and sat up. Jason was sitting in an armchair facing him, scrolling leisurely through something on his laptop. "I gave the chef the day off. We never celebrated your birthday and I figured we'd spend the time together."
So because Bizzaro didn't become Murdering Weird Clone Bizzaro, there was no reason for the DEO to arrest Max. Therefore, he is still in his offices with his company when Alex needs help with the Black Mercy and not safely ensconced in his 'disposable display case'.
Larger changes are coming, though with mostly the same major plot points of each episode.
Max's B'day will be in the companion ficlets I eventually write.