Days Until Christmas: 2

The Arcadian afternoon's cool chill blows through the Bay, where only old ghosts roam in the face of death. In Kate's apartment, Max drops a pearly suitcase onto her bed, smiling at her friend as Chloe smokes by the window. She explains, "Some of the alternate Maxes have caught wind of the upcoming battle and have offered us some weapons. We've got guns, swords, knives, more guns, some trick stuff, and… this." Max opens the case, letting light escape from it. As the trio glare at its contents, she tells Kate, "They said it's for you. Merry Christmas."

Clutching the briefcase close to her chest, Kate smiles at Max and Chloe. "Aww, tell them I said thank you!"

Max nods her head and tells her friend, "I will. Now, try it on."

Kate closes the case and takes it into the bathroom. There, she changes, metamorphosizes into something else. Something animalistic in nature, with a mask, a cape, a costume. Black and white, with no shades in between. A being of light that Arcadia Bay will need in its darkest hour. She becomes the White Rabbit.

She steps back into the living room and waves at her friends: "Ta-daaaa!"

As Max nods in approval at her alternates' efforts, and also answers her ringing phone, Chloe offers snaps and praise. "Dude, that is awesome! A true superhero!"

Kate laughs, a bit flattered. "Shucks."

"Okay? Okay. We'll be down." Max hangs up the phone and tells the two, "It's Daniel. He's got friends coming."

Kate steps over to the window and opens it while also creating an elevator of light to bring up the backup. The backup is, of course, Daniel and his young drifter friends.

The boy leans in and pulls himself inside. After getting in, he gleefully waves at his friends and says, "Hey, guys! I've brought in backup! All the way from Puerto Lobos!"

The leader of the pack, the young Finn, pokes his head into the room and adds, "Heya, friends. We're the Cavalry."

Stifling a laugh, Chloe explains, "I mean, kinda. If you're here, then you're just in this army of ours." She shrugs her shoulders anyways.

"Welcome! I'm Max, this is Chloe! You're Finn, right?"

"Uh-huh. I remember yoooou!" The teen tries pulling himself into the apartment just as Daniel did… but he can't. Not even with the help of some of his pals, Hannah and Cassidy. But finally, after a few more seconds of fumbling, Finn drags himself inside and hops to his feet. "Ready for duty, ma'am!" He salutes the superheroes, but his travelling buddies do not. Rather annoyed, he urges of them, "C'mon, salute with me!"

Hannah helps herself into the room with Cassidy and Penny following right after. She tells him forwardly, "I am not saluting."

Chloe snaps her fingers and grins at the rebels. "That's the spirit!"

"Woah, nice costume!" Daniel puts a fist up in front of Kate, asking for it to be bumped.

Behind her mask, Kate is smiling: "Thank you." She bumps fists with Daniel and walks over to Max right after. She asks her, rather concerned, "Uh, should we really be recruiting children?"

"Daniel's even younger than them. Besides, he's a beast. Er, wolf. You should've seen him at the Wall."

Kate eyes the young drifters and adds to her earlier statement, "I mean, without powers."

Max shrugs her shoulders again and says, "Hey, we've got Steph, Dana, Warren and some more of our non-powered friends getting ready to fight. And besides, we've still got the big guys on our side."

"Literally." The two girls laugh with each other.


As two squirrels stalk along the local powerlines, Colin snaps a shot at them. He captures them in a moment of, well, chase. "Look at that. Just… Beautiful." He takes the photograph and drops it into a plastic baggy, of which he seems to have plenty for containing his works.

Zara focuses on their daughter and sighs. She feels bad about their argument, and they know Victoria does too. As Victoria leans against a traffic signal with her eyes fixed on her phone and the evening darkness all around, she says to her, "Vic, we're really sorry about whatever happened. We tried talking to Sean but-"

"That bastard can't just pay up whatever money he'd owe from an extra chair?"

Zara and Colin look at each other, upset knowing that she is wholly correct. Colin sighs and adds, "He can. We know too. But we're also trying, really fucking trying, to tell you that we're being upfront with you about this whole invitation debacle. We called you and asked if you wanted to come and you said no, we know that."

Victoria glares at her parents and asks, in another attempt to spite them, "You'd have to, right?" Suddenly, something inside her tells her to calm down. And she does, sighing and saying, "I'm sorry."

"What?" Colin and Zara look at their daughter and see her grumbling and groaning, clearly upset with herself at the moment.

Zara steps forward and consoles her with a soft stroke of her bangs: "Oh, Victoria." Still, Victoria tries avoiding eye contact, looking off at the cars passing by. "You don't have to apologize. This isn't your fault. But, I suppose we should say, if it means anything right now, we're sorry too." Colin comes along and the two hold their daughter in a hug, keeping her calm and bringing her down to some sort of rationality.

With the three Chases cooled down, Victoria asks rather nervously, "Is Montrose going to be at the party?"

Colin smirks, remembering the family's old friend. As Sean Prescott mentioned it in a phone call, he tells her, "Yeah."

"Have you talked to him in a while?"

He shakes his head and tells her, "No, but… we can try."

"Okay. Let's do that then, when we can." Victoria wipes at her eyes, ridding herself of tears that almost dripped down her face. "I… I'm really sorry about being angry at you guys. It's just I reeeeally didn't sign up for that thing."

Colin shrugs his shoulders, explaining once more, "We figured. And we surely didn't sign you up for it."

Zara holds Victoria's shoulder and asks, "Hang on, are you implying that Montrose did it?"

Victoria snickers and tells her, with an inquisitive stroke of her chin, "What? No, but… someone did it. And I think I have a few ideas who." Looking at the two, she sees them sense some worry and inner doubt. "And no, it's not you guys!" The three laugh and continue on their independent tour of Independence.


Sean Prescott walks past the containment cells and pats the Jumper on his back as he listens to the anonymous growls and roars behind a steel door. With a smile, he asks, "Is it just me or have you tamed the Dawgs?"

The Jumper shrugs as she continues looking at the door. "Must be my charm." Finally, he turns to face Prescott and asks, "Things are looking good for the party, I take it?"

He nods his graying head and explains, "Yes. All guests are accounted for. You did good, Jumper." The two shake hands on it as Dr. Court skips behind them. "Doctor, how is the itinerary looking?"

"All set, sir. And your Winter Wonderland playlist is good to go as well."

Prescott pulls a comb out of his jacket and starts combing his hair with a rare and accomplished grin. "Very good. Now, let's make ourselves look presentable. I've hear the other Max has done a splendid job thus far."


In the Arcadia Bay Cemetery, as the day rapidly approaches its end, Damon is busy working on a message for the world to see, per his old ways. Using a wall as his canvas and a spray can as his brush, he delivers his message:

DON'T MESS

WITH

Dl

Behind him, Bedlam clears his throat, wishing for an answer from the Mummy Man Merrick. He explains to the tattoo tyrant, "Gotta leave a reminder for when all's said and done, Boss."

Bedlam points his chin up in amusement. "Our actions are all that must be said. For you, your comrades, and I will go down in history as the new Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

"Hell yeah." Before Damon can continue his work, he asks another question: "Say, what's with all this talk of the armageddon? Just big planning? Big hype?"

Bedlam looks away and snickers to himself. "Verily." He turns his head and glares at Merrick with venom, or really ink, coursing through his body. "I wasn't always like this. I was once a man. A man seeking adventure and passage from the Old World to the New. Seeking passage to the West, me and my men traversed what would become the Oregon Trail. It was 1838 when we settled on these beautiful lands, and it was 2010 when we saw these lands brought down by all the garbage within it. The youth were defecating on the name that we created, so we settled on finding a way to make things right. As ghosts, we did. I did. And I aided in the arrival of the end of days. But that was another time. In this new time, I was stopped. And life moved on. Life and its youth ruined things as it always did, and the dirt that thrived on it thrived more than ever. Now, I am here to make things right."

Damon yawns, both tired and confused, and asks, "W-why are you telling me all this?"

"Because it wouldn't matter. After all, you are merely what you leave for others." A black tendril, of Bedlam's ink-blood, stabs Damon through his spine, much to his shock. "And you will be the tool for which I will destroy not only Arcadia Bay, but the land around it. I have already tested on other planets, and they alone are too far to reach without… dangerous means. Means which I will use only in the event that my scheme comes tumbling down. For now, life goes on. But with the twist of this watch, it will all end. Thank you for listening, Damon. You were better off dead anyways." As the tendrils extend and wrap around the unfortunate criminal, Bedlam picks up the spray can rather gleefully. "I suppose I should do you one last favor. You help me, I help you."

And so he sprays.

DON'T MESS

WITH

DEATH

And so the day goes on. Or rather, it ends. Midnight strikes.

Days Until Christmas: 1

"It is almost time."