Made of Steel

Chp 5



No More Pain







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The Mod. Gotham's newest youth place. They gave the teens everything they wanted. Food. Vid's, Net shopping, etc. The bar area took up the left side of the large building. Dana ran up to the unspoken reserved section her crew.



" Todd is about to have a milkshake the hard way." She warned. Max, Chelsea, and Blade looked through the double doors on their left to the blade ramps. Todd stood smiling at Cree. He put his arm around her shoulder. She took one last sip of her mocha shake before pouring it on his head.

The girls burst out laughing. Cree skated away and up to her very amused peers.



"Ah told em I had a beau." She said very offended.



Max slapped the counter table. "Give this lady another, on me." The waiter set down a brownie sundae and turned to prepare Cree's double mocha cream shake. Todd walked up still dripping. The girls turned their backs to him, started conversation among themselfs. He reached over to the paper towel and begin to clean himself up. Cree's drink was set in front of her. She grabbed a straw and started back to the ramps. " I'll see guys later." She called.



Max waved bye. She took a scoop of brownie. Todd took the stool next to her. Max waved the waiter down. " Could I get more whip cream, please."



Todd slumped the messy paper towels on the bar in a slush. He lead over and whisper in her ear.

" I'll give you all the cream you need."



Max dropped her spoon on the bar top. She waited for the waiter to finish adding the whip cream.



" You know, Mr. Rodriguez," She stood up. " Every person is allowed a number of embarrassing moments, and you just used all yours up." She dumped the sundae in his lap and stocked off.



Everyone around he started to point and laugh.



Max stood in the bathroom whipping the ice cream from her sleeve. It felt damn good to do that. She just thought it would help him cool him down faster. He helped him really. She laughed at herself. Terry would be proud. She tossed the paper in the garbage, smooth out her cloths and checked herself in the mirror.





Max head to the door. The voices behind the door, stopped her hand from turning the knob.



" I told you. Not to make a move until I said so."



" I came here for Monet." Max stepped away from the clouded glass door, so not to cast a shadow. Monet. They were talking about Cree.



" Did you touch her?"



" I didn't touch your bitch."



Something hit the door, hard. Max jumped back.



"Don't ever talk about Max like that. You hear me Todd."



Max eyes widen. It was Todd and Trevor, and Trevor was taking up for her.



On the other side of the door, Todd pushed his brother back. Trevor calmed himself and glared over to his brother.



" You act like him more and more everyday." Todd said his finger pointing in his face. Trevor looked away.



" I didn't mean that. C'mon we have to met him."



Max slowly pulled the door open. No one was there, she pushed past the girls walking in, and ran out in the lobby. She spotted the two brothers walking out the door and into a white limo. She ran through the crowd after them.



Max followed them to a little Italian restaurant on Main street. She waited for them to enter before she got out the taxi. Max crossed the traffic. She walked in , staying to the walls. The hosts approached her.



" May I help you?"



Max looked over her, around into the seating area. She didn't see the boys.



" Um, no, I'm waiting for my party to come."



The host smiled. " Would you like to wait at our bar?"



Max returned her smile. "Actually, could you point me to your restroom?"



" Right this way." Max followed the host across the restaurant, keeping her head low and unnoticeable as someone with pink hair could be. She looked over the people dinning, but didn't see who she wanted to see.



" Here you are ma'am." The host pointed to the corridor of the restrooms.



" Thank you." She waited for him to leave before she peaked around the corner. That's when she

caught sight of them. They laughed about something and walked into the kitchen door. Max quickly crossed the distance and followed. The steam and smoke filled her noise. Max's stomach growled a bit. She ignored it, kept her eyes on the boys, and watch them walk out the back door.



" HOT PAN." A cook yelled. Max stumbled out the way of the boiling noodles coming at her. She heard the sounds of squealing tires from out side.



She was going to lose them. She pushed past the cooks and ran to the back door. Pushing it open she fell outside into the alley way. She didn't see anyone. She ran past the over flowing trash cans. Nothing, She lost them. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket, pressed an extension and put it to her ear. It rang.



Before she got an answer, the phone was knocked from her hand. She screamed. A hand came around her and closed around neck. She was jerked backwards.



Trevor stepped into the light. He waited for Max to stop struggling against Todd.



"Maxine, if you wanted to have dinner you only have to ask me my dear."



Max pulled at Todd's arm, " What did you do to Cree?"



Todd tightened his hold. " The same thing we did to you." He joked, pushing her into Trevor.



He grabbed her, holding her so she wouldn't run. Max felt something shoot into her side. She looked down to see Trevor throw a palm sized injection gun in the trash.



"What was that?" She asked very worried.



" My little secret." He whispered before taking her mouth with his. Max reared back and punched him in the face. The force of the blow made him release her. Trevor recovered quickly. His eyes gazed over in anger. He lunged forward at her, grabbed her by the collar of her jacket. He slammed her into the wall.



Max's shoulder hit with a loud snap. She screamed out in pain. Todd turned around and covered his ears. " Shut her up man."



Trevor kicked the trash away and yanked her off the ground and cover her mouth with his hand. Tears streamed down her face, Max's left arm hung lifeless.



" I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He yelled over her screams.



There was a flash of red and black. A batrang sliced through the air. Todd turned, looked up. Out of the shadows, Batman tackled him to the ground. Batman flipped up, leaving Todd unconscious on the ground. Max muffled screams stopped, she reached out to Batman with her good arm. Trevor snatched her back to him. She bit down on his hand, Trevor snatched his hand away.





" Let me go." She yelled in a mix of pain and anger. Batman stalked forward but stopped when Trevor put Max between them.



" If she screams one more time..."



Trevor jerked Max's shoulder, She screamed, Batman moved in. Trevor throw her into him. Batman caught Max.



Todd stumbled up. Trevor helped him up and they stumbled away.



Batman watched them leave. Max hung to him, her breathing hard. " It was a trap." she whispered



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In the cave, at Wayne manner, Bruce sat at the computer. Monitoring all the news reports incase someone heard or witnessed the interaction. The minimized screen showed the jet nearing the manner. From his ear piece he could hear that Max had calmed herself.



Batman sat commanding the jet home to the batcave, listening to Max's erratic breathing. She had quieted down, sitting behind him staring out the hatch, tears streamed down her face.



Ace 's ears perked up, Bruce heard the whips of the jet could be heard coming closer. Bruce turned the chair around, got hold of his cane and walked over to the landing pad. The jet hovered a bit before touching down. The hatch slide open, Batman jumped down from the seat and pulled the cowl of his face.



"Is it bad?" Bruce asked, his usual collected self. Terry turned to help Max out the jet.



" Her shoulder's dislocated." Terry answered holding Max up as she stepped down to the ground.

" Bring her to the table." Bruce walked over to the silver toped table, moved some things out the way, Terry seat Max on top. She slumped over on Terry's shoulder. Bruce examined her, he place his cane a side and gave Terry a look.



" Max we have to fix your shoulder." Bruce said, signaling Terry to get ready.



He walked around Max, up one arm around her chest the other round her waist. Max started to cry again. Bruce placed one hand round her elbow and the other under her arm. Max's under arm came up over Terry's arms wrapped around her. She could hear him whispering in her ear.



"It'll be ok, it'll be ok, I got you."









With out warning Bruce pulled, snapping her shoulder back in place. Max gasped, squeezed her eyes shut, a moment later she released the air in her lungs. Bruce held her hand in his. " Squeeze my hand."



Max did as she was told. Satisfied with her grip, he released her hand, then pulled a med case from under the table. Bruce's attention were on the screen. He handed Terry the case. " Wrap her shoulder tightly."Terry got out the elastic bonding wrap from the case. Bruce walked over to the computer screen, pushed the audio button.



"Hamilton High student, Cree Monet, was found dead in the back alley of The Mod." Max's head shot up. There was a picture of a body covered by a white sheet. The cops were hold back the crowd. Leo knelled next to her body. A cop pulled Leo's hand away from hers.



"GCPD reported that Monet is the 34th reported case of Sacc over dose in the country. Is was 18..." Bruce cut the sound. He picked the phone up, dialed a number, and waited.



Max eyes were glued to the floor. What did Todd say.... "The same thing we did to you."

What? They stole her money. They beat her up. They followed her around school. The injection gun... He gave her something.



" Does that feel better?" Terry asked pressing the metal clips on to hold the band. Max looked to over to him and nodded.



"Take these." He handed her two pain killers. He turned to reach for the small bottle of water in the case. When he turned to give it to her, she was gone. The pills lay on the table were she sat. Terry looked around. He saw Max over at the uniform display. Bruce was still on the phone.



Max pulled the collar of her shirt away and looked at her reflection. She pulled the bottom of her shirt up and looked. She pulled the side of her jeans down a bit and there it was. Four small circle, the size of dimes. Inside them were four barley visible pricks. She rubbed her thumb over them.



" You ok?" He asked walking up. Max quickly covered up. She pointed to the case holding the old batgirl costume.



" You know, at one time I thought I could handle this." She gave a fake smile.



Terry looked over the case of past heros. " The hours cut into your beauty sleep." He joked. "How do you feel?"



She turned to him. " I think it's adrenaline. It doesn't hurt anymore." She leaned into him, resting her forehead under his chin.



He put an arm around her. " What were you doing with them?"



" I heard them talking by the bathroom about Cree and..." She stopped talking, He didn't need to know her name came up in it. " and I followed them, to see what they were doing."



Terry pulled away to look at her angrily " Cree? They did that?" Max whispered a yes. " That could have been you Max. If you hadn't call me, I would have been on the other side of town if you hadn't called."



" I know, I know, Just don't yell at me." She grimaced. Terry a little hot now, paced in front of her as she spoke. " Cree and I embarrassed Todd at the Mod earlier, turned him down. He must have gotten her back after they ran."



Bruce put down the phone and walked over to the two. "Did you two know her?" Max and Terry both nodded.



Bruce lowered his head. " I'm sorry."



*** Thanks for reading. Review plz. OH, I'm reading these things over, If I'm still making some dumb mistakes let me know,plz. ***