Jackie flinched, her eyes moving back and forth between the twins. Matt was finally hurt where the bitter words exceeded from his brother.
"Br-...br-." Jackie stumbled with the words.
"Brothers." Slyder said.
"It makes sense. Unfortunately." Inez grimaced. "But, it doesn't mean you aren't a spy. Seeing that you have...connections."
"I told you. My business is none of your concern." Max retorted. "I stood on my end of the deal, you should be grateful I found your bird friend."
"We were. But you bitter the deal." Matt gritted. "I don't believe this is going to work out."
"It better." Max threatened, pointing at him. "Because you made this. And I haven't got the full satisfaction from your behalf. I have last resort orders to kill you." Max braced himself as his forearm began to deform to more metallic and statical.
"Okay!" Slyder stood between the two. His friend, and the traitor. Max's threats were only for the better good; little did they know of his own, own plans. They couldn't get any closer to Dr. Alvin, until his brilliant plan began to fold. He had to veer their attention back to Hacker; their prime objective.
"I will tell you this; you're standing in our way. Not so much of helping. And on top of that your, so-called persona design, built to detest any friendly doesn't get you anywhere. Not everything is going to be perfect. And it's not going to be the way you like it." Matt stood nose-to-nose with his half-brother. The android stared into the sharp blue eyes of the earthling.
He wanted to rip him to shreds. He had the ability to do that. But he couldn't. He had to refrain from that because of his brilliant plan. So he had to change. He had to continue working with the earthlings until Dr. Alvin was ready to ambush Hacker; that means weakening his defenses.
"Fine. I suppose you earthlings have your...interesting ways." Max's eyes narrowed.
The gang shifted as they were unsure if he was lying or trying to really coƶperate. Matt couldn't help but try to see beyond the mask of Max. As harsh and cruel as he was designed to be, he was a good bluffer. He knew that Max made excuses not to kill them, because Max had an amount of humanity from one single strand of his DNA. Matt was sympathetic to bother exposing him to that. It would only lead to more conflict.
"You have one more chance." Inez folded her arms.
Slyder and Jackie said nothing as they returned to working on Digit. Max sighed as he side-glanced Inez and Matt. He left the garage and teleported elsewhere.
"He needs time to think." Matt said, staring out at the garage. "He'll some to his senses."
"Senses? He has senses?" Inez raised a brow.
"Trust me. He has a few of those."
/
Max groaned as he met Dr. Alvin at the clock tower. The time read 10:21. But in the sky, Hacker began a countdown: 15 days 2 hours 49 minutes 24 seconds. The earthlings were unaware of this because Dr. Alvin told Max this shortly at 4AM in the morning, while in defense mode. Time dwindling fast for them.
"What now?" Dr. Alvin checked.
"The earth boy Matt returned. He knows. And that stupid glasses girl!" He clenched his fists. Dr. Alvin's eyes widen.
"Curse him! The only way he knew is that fool Marbles." Dr. Alvin scowled.
"But he brought up something else." Max's expression darken as he stared at Dr. Alvin, anxiety creeping up him. His eyes shifted, his mind going through what could Max possibly know.
"You're hiding things from me, Terrance." Max approached the doctor. Dr. Alvin began to creep back.
"Like what?" He snarled. "If this is about Kevin-"
Max snatched up the doctor with a single hand clutching his throat. Dr. Alvin struggled as he began to hack and suffocate. His cobalt eyes began to grow lighter.
"It has everything to do with you and Kevin!" He snarled, slamming him against the base of the tower. Dr. Alvin's air supply began to dwindle to the last few breaths.
"I had no choice!" Dr. Alvin barely whispered as Max roared, releasing the scientist. He was being manipulated, as he predicted. Dr. Alvin was never the man to trust. Max paced the roof.
"You lied to me!" Max acted.
"Kevin warned me about your curiosity. If you ever truly knew anymore about yourself, you would be less powerful than you are now. We can't risk that, can we?" Dr. Alvin hissed. Max grind his teeth. It was true; somethings Max wished to know were hidden away from his span of knowledge. It was like the earthling's fates; it would merely destroy their future and both worlds would fall apart.
One day, it would be all that he would ask. Who is he? Besides Matt's clone and Kevin's backup plan.
"Of course, sir." Max bowed, bitterly.
"I cannot risk these meetings for a while. Hacker's defenses are tightening. We still don't know exactly what he's doing to open the mass portal between Earth and our world. Time Max." Dr. Alvin pointed to the countdown in the sky, "Time Maximus! If we don't do something before that, all hell is breaking loose. Hell."
Max's eyes lowered, "I know."
