Taking a week off from this story felt…odd honestly. But I'm getting my workload under control and I'm excited to write again. So, two chapters in two days! Huzzah! Anyway, not a lot of action…but I promise people will like this chapter. I feel it's a bit rushed…but well, I figure if worst comes to worst, I can always re-upload it later. Besides, I don't know when I'll upload next and better to get as much as I got out now, then wait. At least, that's how I prefer it. Anyway, as always I own nothing, reviews are love, shout outs are always accepted and I hope everyone enjoys.
BRL
PS the end of this chapter was inspired by a request from dedicated fan angel. Angel, you have stuck with the story for a long while now and as such I hope you like this scene.
Enjoy!
Drake summoned his bike and flew off, leaving A'lexx to watch, contemplating. "Did…did he leave?" asked Isis as she appeared on the roof. A'lexx nodded. She hugged herself as she leaned against the stoic Martian. "I…I never thought he'd do something like that. At least…not to us."
"He did it to you," stated A'lexx. "What did you expect? He loves that girl, in ways he never loved us."
"I guess, I didn't want to believe he really moved beyond us," whispered Isis.
A'lexx shook his head. "He was always beyond us; we just refused to see it. But we have another problem."
"Achilles," agreed Isis.
A'lexx nodded. "Tiberius might not love us, but he is the closest thing we have to family. And, I'm not overly fond of Spartoi."
"So we fight?" asked Isis.
"It seems so," answered A'lexx.
A grin appeared on Isis's face, some of her old spirit coming back. "I could use a good fight. Been forever since I've had a real opponent to test myself against."
Meanwhile Max and Terry had landed in the cave. During the pair's flight back, they were drawn into a conflict with another Joker cell, also seemingly invulnerable. This time however, both teenagers used their vehicles' weapons to quickly disable their idiotic opponents. After all, both figured if the Jokerz could take the punishment then Max and Terry could and should use every weapon in their arsenal. They found another vial, this one still filled with some liquid.
In the cave, Bruce was already waiting for them as they landed, Ace next to him. Max vaulted from her bike while Terry flipped off the Batmobile. "The modifications to the costume?" asked Bruce. Ace trotted over to Terry who scratched the dog behind the ears as Max walked to Bruce.
"Worked like a charm! This suit is so schway!" cried Max as she pulled her mask down.
Terry removed his own cowl as he looked at his mentor. "You're seriously ok with this? And when did this all happen!?" He gestured to Max's new suit and the apparent cooperation between the hacker and the old detective.
Bruce sighed. "After her fight with Drake, she came to me, begging to help. She threatened she'd be back out there again whether or not I helped. Last time someone said that to me, well, they turned out to be one of my best protégés. Also, the last time someone said that to me, they almost died carrying the promise out. So I decided it was better to have a living annoyance, then a dead martyr. And, unlike before, it seems Ted's work has done some good."
"Some good!?" repeated the Boxer as he stepped out of the shadows. "The girl did more than good. Max that roundhouse was perfect! Your jab…still needs work."
"Ted!" shouted Max as she tackled him. "You saw me?"
Ted nodded. "Yea, you handled yourself well. Though I still don't think you need all this crazy taser tech," he said as he gestured to the electronics implanted under Max's armor.
Max folded her arms against her chest. "We've been over this, until I get better, the tasers will give me an edge. Sides, after today, they definitely proved their worth."
"Speaking of which, what happened?" demanded Bruce.
Terry held up a vial. "The Jokerz were all on this, it's some kind of drug."
Bruce took the vial, sniffing it. His eyes widened. "Ted!" he passed the vial to the first Wildcat who's own shock became apparent after smelling the vial. The old men raced to the Batcomputer. "Computer on!" shouted Bruce as took his seat. Ted tossed the vial back to Terry while Bruce pulled up various files. Bruce's fingers splayed over the key board, typing dozens of words as Terry rushed to the chemistry set. "Terry, place a sample on the scanner," commanded Bruce.
Terry mounted a drop of the left over Miraculo on a slide and placed it on the electronic microscope. "Is it what I think it is!?" questioned Ted.
Bruce sighed as he scanned the data. "We'll know in a few minutes." Sure enough, several minutes later, the computer announced its results. "Miraculo," said Bruce.
"How the hell did they get Miraculo!?" thundered Ted. "The only man who the recipe for that junk was"
"Rex Tyler," finished Drake. All turned to see Nightwing walk in, his domino mask still on. "Who passed the formula to his son Rick."
"Rick was a good kid, he wouldn't give the formula to a bunch of gangers, nor would he have sold it!" snapped Ted.
"He didn't," said Drake. "When Rick was running around as Hourman, Cadmus was actively following him; they wanted the formula for Miraculo."
"But he never gave it to them," countered Ted.
Bruce's eyes widened slightly as he turned back to the computer. "They figured it out," he stated.
Drake nodded. "They got a sample of Rick's blood. Using their nano tech, they were able to reverse engineer it."
"How though?!" demanded Ted. "The stuff wore off after an hour."
"But it stayed in his blood for longer," replied Drake. "Long enough for Cadmus to extract a small dose. Rick had bonded to the serum; unlike his father he used direct injectors. His blood was loaded with the stuff. Even if it was inert it was still there."
"So if Cadmus made a new batch of it, why are we only seeing it now?" asked Terry as he and Max joined the others.
Bruce spun his chair to Drake and leaned forward, fingers laced in front of him. "And how do you know all this?"
Drake looked down and away. "Because…Spartoi used to use it. They wanted to make super soldiers and thought Miraculo was the key. As for why are we seeing it now, Cadmus, then later Spartoi, never intended to sell it. However, something's changed. When I left, only three people knew how to make Miraculo. And only one person actually used the stuff. Its side effects…"
"They're not pretty," continued Ted. "Rex suffered from using that crap so much. Besides being addictive, it messes with the users head, and their body eventually has trouble functioning without the drug. Who the hell would use it!?"
Drake sighed. "My counterpart, a man named Achilles."
"Counterpart!?" parroted Max.
Drake smirked slightly. "You really didn't think I was the only one Spartoi made."
"So, they made another team," said Bruce.
"Only two were…successful," replied Drake. A haunted look appeared in his eyes. Whatever memories were there, they were not pretty. That's when he felt a hand grabbed his. He smiled slightly at Max before looking back at Bruce. "Achilles was made to be the perfect super soldier. They gave him daily doses of Miraculo, combined with a programed metagene, slowly but surely he started to keep the powers. First for more than a single hour; then slowly for days at a time. Still he needs a steady supply, so he learned to manufacture it."
"And he's here for you right?" asked Terry.
Drake nodded. "A'lexx and Isis as well. They originally came for me because Spartoi got them back. But well, none of us are particularly keen about being a government program's lapdogs. So they sent in their back up plan."
"Do you know anything about them?" questioned Bruce.
Drake shook his head. "I only know about Achilles because…we were forced to fight…every day. The scientists were curious if having three metahumans was better than two. Achilles is…not a nice person. To be fair I wasn't much better but"
"So, your old playmate is now supplying super drugs to the Jokerz," commented Terry. "Well this is schway. Anything else!?"
'Terry!" snapped Bruce. "Getting upset does not help, control your emotions!"
Terry sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry"
"No," interrupted Drake. "This is my fault. You got every right to be fragged. If Achilles is here, he's probably supplying Scarecrow with his fear gas gear."
Bruce spun back to his computer. "Go on patrol, we can't let the Jokerz run around hopped up on Miraculo. Ted, you might want to put in a call, see if Rick's family knows about his father's formula being in the hands of some idiot gang bangers."
"Right," answered Ted as he rolled his shoulders. "You three want an extra set of hands?"
Drake opened his mouth but stopped. Finally he shook his head. "We'll be fine, stay here with Bruce." With that he spun on his heel and walked to his bike.
Terry appeared next to Max. "Just when I think I got him figured out."
Max nodded. "Do you think he'll ever tell us the whole story?"
"Not if he don't have too," said Ted. Both teenagers looked at the old hero as Drake's bike rocketed out of the cave. Ted sighed as he watched Drake fly off. "Drake will never tell the whole story of what happened to him. He doesn't want to burden people with it. Hell, I don't think even Selina knows the whole story. We only learned about Spartoi because the kid who rescued Drake gave us the cliff notes version. Whatever happened to that boy, he'll take with him to his grave he has a choice. Max best you go with him, Ter you run a solo patrol. Drake's not gonna be in the right state of mind, better he's got a partner."
Max bit her lip as she stared at the Cave's opening. "Maybe Ter should go."
Ted shook his head. "Trust me, you go. Terry, me and you gonna go for a little workout, you haven't been by the gym lately. Want to make sure you're not getting sloppy."
Terry gaped at Ted. Finally he snapped out of it. "No way! The Batmobile is a one seater!"
Ted just grinned. "My bike can keep up, don't worry about that." He slapped Terry's back as he strode off. "Give me a sec to get changed. Max best you get after Drake, he's liable to track Achilles down on his own and take care of it."
"Right!" called Max as she leapt onto her bike. She pulled her mask back on as she gunned the engine, the jet bike roaring as it shot out of the cave. Max caught up with Drake who just nodded to her.
But after a few initial scraps, Terminal pulled his Jokerz back. He had wanted to merely test Miraculo's abilities, but he had lost some of his preferred gangers. So the gothic teen had decided it was better to wait until his partner's weapons were completed. After all, nothing was quite as amusing as watching Scab cry out in fear after being hit with fear gas time after time. Scarecrow couldn't even tell if he was more scared of the gas or merely the thought of being hit with it. Neither he, nor Terminal seemed to care. Nor did Achilles make a move.
So after a couple of quiet hours, all three teenagers headed home. Well, Terry headed home. Max was about to leave when Drake caught her arm. "You can…come back to Aunt Selina's…if you want," said Drake.
"Are you sure you're ok with that?" asked Max.
Drake nodded. "Yea,"
"Drake can we" but Drake was already on his motorcycle. "Need a ride," she called. He waited for her. Once she settled on the bike, Drake took off. Despite the tense set of his shoulders, Max relaxed against Drake. When they finally got to the apartment building, Drake all but fled from the girl. Selina watched as Drake rushed past her and saw Max coming in.
"Kitten!" shouted Selina as she grabbed Max in a fierce hug.
Max smiled into the hug. "Hey Selina. It's good to see you."
"And you dear, are you staying the night?" asked Selina. Max nodded. Selina gave her a megawatt smile. "Well, lets get you set up in your room!" She took Max's bag as the two headed upstairs.
"Is he…is doing ok?" said Max.
Selina sighed as she shook her head. "He's not sleeping well, and…he misses you dear."
"I miss him too," replied Max. "But…I don't know how to get him to understand that."
"He does," stated Selina. They stopped outside of Max's room. "Drake is trying, he really is. He just"
"Doesn't know how to forgive, yea he told me," finished Max.
"He forgave you a long time ago," countered Selina. "He's afraid of his feelings, he doesn't understand them. So he's trying to stay away, figure them out. But he misses you, its why he randomly acts out towards you." Selina smiled. "Anyway, it's late, and you're probably tired. Thankfully its Friday, so you can get some rest tomorrow."
Max hugged Selina again. "Thanks Selina…this means a lot to me."
"Of course kitten," replied the older thief.
Max took her bag and opened the roof. Settling on the bed, Max realized a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She was home.
Max changed into her sleep clothes, settling down on her bed. But like the last three weeks, she had trouble falling asleep. It just felt…strange to not have Drake next to her. She sat up, debating going to talk to him when she heard movement outside of her room. Max crept from the bed, sinking into a practiced crouch as she slinked across the room, making as much noise as a cat. She opened the door and saw Drake heading upstairs. "Well, better to be insomniac together than apart right?" she muttered to herself. She stood up and followed Drake upstairs. When she stepped out on the roof, Drake was already at the edge, watching the sky. He didn't look back when the door opened, but Max figured she should warn him anyway. "Hey," she called. Drake spun hands up. Max held her hands out in front of her, calmly approaching the teen. "Hey, it's just me."
Drake's wide eyes relaxed when he realized it was Max then turned back to the railing. "Sorry…in…own head," he said.
"Not wearing your collar?" asked Max. His hand darted up, checking his neck line.
"I am," he replied. "Just thinking too much."
Max chuckled as she leaned against the railing. "Yea, I know that feeling."
Silence descended upon the two, and for a while, neither knew how to break it. Finally Drake couldn't take it anymore. "Max, I…I" he started.
Max looked at Drake, not close enough to touch him, but still close enough to see every little detail. His tense body, narrow eyes. "Whatever you want to say D-man, its ok, you don't have too."
"No!" he snapped. Max reared back, as if slapped. Drake quickly reined his nerves in. "No…I need…to say this. Max I…I…I miss you," his voice was barely above a whisper. But Max could hear every word. "I miss you so much. It's like…like I can't breathe. I tried to stay angry…to focus on the pain. But…I cant. I…care about you too much…please…please" Drake shrugged helplessly, he didn't even know what he was begging Max for.
Max just shook her head as she stepped closer to Drake. "You really are a big idiot you know that?" A fierce glare entered Drake's eyes but Max just gave him a cheeky smile. "You miss me right?" Drake nodded. "You care about me?" Another nod. "That means ya idiot that you love me. Or, something close to it."
Drake stared…flabbergasted. "Love?" he repeated.
Max shrugged. "Or something close to it. I aint in your head but" Drake cut her off with a fierce kiss, pulling Max tight against him.
"Love," he said when he pulled away from the girl.
Max smiled, still a little fogged up from the kiss. "I guess love works." Drake scooped the girl up in his arms and carried her back downstairs. He refused to spend another night away from the girl he loved. And Max, Max wasn't really complaining all that much.