Chapter 3

With in 3 days, Rose was out of the hospital and back on her feet, she'd explained to her modeling agency what had happened, as if they didn't already know, and told them she'd be back to work within two weeks, that was the time limit the doctor gave her to get well and take it easy for awhile. Within that time also, she'd been trying to find herself a permanent place of residence in the city, but good, avaliable apartments in New York City are as rare as snow in Miami, Florida. Needless to say, Rose wasn't having much luck in that department, and was running up quite a bill staying in the Plaza Hotel all those nights, she'd even had to ask her father for small loan, with hospital bills and such to pay as well, which she hated to do greatly.

Rose hadn't heard from Max Dillon in awhile either, and she knew why, he probably thought she hated his guts since she hadn't called him in days, and he probably had no idea about where she was either, so one of the first things she did (aside from her loan) was to call Max, and she was actually quite nervous when she did call, she didn't know if he'd even want to speak to her again, but she desperately hoped he did.

"Hello?" A somewhat gruff voice responded from the other end of the phone conversation, causing Rose to pause for a moment, before she finally found her voice again. "Max? It's....it's Rose. Listen I'm sorry I haven't talked to you lately, very sorry, I didn't mean to just blow you off but...well the truth is I've been in the hospital the past few days."

Max knew that already, and in fact since he'd made his visit to her as Electro, he wasn't angry at her at all, but he had to play along and act clueless, Rose couldn't know about his connection to Electro, not just yet anyway. "The hospital? What...what happened? I mean are you ok? Are you still there?" he asked in quick succession.

Rose smiled lightly, "I'm alright Max, and I just got out of there today. I was involved in a little car accident on that job out in the state that I told you about, it's a long story but...I'd like to tell you more about it maybe...if we could get together later tonight?" she asked, twirling her phone cord around her finger from inside her hotel room, as she sat lightly on her bed.

Max smiled, "I'd like that Rose. Why don't you come over to my place around 6:30 tonight? I'll cook us something," he said, meaning he'd order out and put the to-go food on plates, pretending like he'd cooked it. Max quickly gave Rose his address and directions to his apartment, before the two said their good-byes, and Rose went to grab a shower to get ready for her evening with Max.

Two hours later, Rose was on her way to Max's apartment, he didn't live too far from where she was staying, so she decided to save herself a little money and skip a cab ride...she was going to walk.

However, three blocks later, Rose found herself in unfamilar territory, she'd taken a wrong turn a few minutes earlier, and was actually in a pretty shady looking part of New York. "I...don't think this is right...I'd better turn around and just call Max, maybe he can give me better directions from where I am," Rose said, clutching her purse against her tightly, as she turned around to head back where she'd come from.

She wasn't able to go far though, almost as soon as she turned around, she found herself faced down by two tall, and rather large, men who looked like they had very un-honorable intentions. One whistled slowly as he looked Rose over, while the other man made a predatory sort of circle around her, looking her up and down in the same fashion as the other man. "Jackpot...why don't you come with us little lady, and we'll make a real woman out of you..." the first man smirked, as he made a grab for Rose's arm.

"S-Stop it....let me go!" Rose screamed, trying to kick the man in the gut, but her foot missed, and to make things worse the heeled sandal she was wearing flew off, now leaving her with one bare foot. Rose turned her head quickly to see where the other man was, but by then it was too late, he'd grabbed her other wrist, and with his friends help they had Rose pinned up against an alleyway wall in no time. Her struggling was doing no good, as one of them ran his hand up her thigh, and the second man placed a hand over her mouth so she couldn't scream. Help me...someone please help me...! Rose thought, shutting her eyes and preparing herself for the inevitable, before a sudden wave of anger washed over her, and her eyes flew open as she glared down at the two men. No...I'm not going to just stand by and let them do this to me...I've got to do...something! she thought, and then as if she'd commanded it to happen, a sudden burst of lasers appeared in front of her, frying one man's gut so much his shirt actually caught on fire; before she turned her attention to the second man and did the same to him, only this time she aimed for a certain area of his pants.

The two men let go of her and flung themselves on the ground, yelling and shouting about her being some kind of mutant freak, and that's when Rose realized, those lasers had come from her. She'd never been able to do that before, what just happened here?

The first man got to his feet after getting his shirt put out, and was running towards Rose with a knife drawn, trying to slash her anywhere he could, before she threw her hand out in front of her in a sort of protective act, only to emit a small sonic sound, blasting the man very quickly back into the same brick wall she'd been pinned up against earlier. A few of the bricks cracked as he hit the wall, and so did the man's skull. She didn't want to stick around to see what happened to the other man, she grabbed her shoe, and ran for her life, but it wasn't a normal run, apparently in addition to all the other things she was doing, Rose now had super speed as well. Alas no super strength though, she could've used that.

Once she was out of range of the two men, Rose leaned against a store wall, breathing a bit heavily and shaking slightly, as she stared at her hands, what just happened back there. When did she get powers like that, or was it just some kind of miracle to save her from being raped and murdered in an alleyway? Screw trying to find Max's place on her own, she was taking a "TAXI!" she yelled, as a yellow cab pulled up on the curb for her to crawl in. She told the cabbie Max's address, and they sped away quickly after.

Ding Dong.

Max walked to the door when he heard the doorbell, checking his reflection in a mirror along the way, before he opened the door to spot Rose Brennan, a bit bruised and scratched up, but still looking like her usual self none the less. "Rose...c'mon in, I got us some steaks, so...well I never did ask, you do eat meat don't cha?" he asked, hopeing she wasn't one of those vegetarian types.

"Heheh don't worry I eat meat Max, and a steak sounds great to me right now...I've been living off hospital food for the past three days, anything sounds good," Rose smirked lightly as she walked in, though the air she had about her was a bit different than it had been last time Max saw her, or even spoke with her on the phone. She actually looked a little terrified and nervous about something, was it him? Did she know about Electro's connection with him?

"Can I...get you anything to drink Rose?" Max asked, pulling out a nice bottle of red wine, and two wine glasses to go with it.

"Please...a nice, big glass of it if you don't mind..." Rose said, taking her seat at Max's kitchen table, twirling a piece of red hair around her finger lightly.

"Rose is anything the matter? You feel ok don't you?" Max asked, as he poured two glasses of wine, Rose's glass had a bit more drink than his own, because of her request earlier.

"Hmm? Oh I'm...fine just have a lot on my mind I guess, with not being able to go to my first job, not being able to find an apartment, and..." Rose paused, unsure if she should tell Max the last part, he'd think she was a freak after all, and would probably kick her out of his apartment right then and there. She couldn't tell him about her powers. "It's nothing...I guess I still just don't feel completely like myself," she forced a light grin, before she clinked their wine glasses together lightly, "Cheers...and thanks for this meal Max, it looks wonderful." she grinned, cutting her steak up into little pieces with her knife and fork.

Max watched her for a moment, she hardly ever looked up from her plate, and she wasn't nearly as conversational as she had been the other night they had dinner together. Something was wrong that she wasn't telling him, but why should she tell him? They were just getting to know each other after all, still, Max had grown quite fond of Rose during that short period of time, and he wanted to help her, he just didn't know how yet.

Rose continued to eat her meal in silence, before Max decided to try and make some form of conversation, to break the uncomfortable silence. "So hey, did you hear about that freak Spider-Man almost gettin' himself killed earlier today by Electro?" he smirked, as Rose dropped her fork with a light clang against her plate.

"E-Excuse me?" Rose stared at him, looking a bit pale, he'd called Spider-Man a freak, Spider-Man who had superpowers of his own, so there was the answer to her question, if Max thought Spidey was a freak, he'd think Rose was a freak. Why had she moved out here? Nothing was going right anymore, her entire life, she felt, had flipped upside down from this moment out, and the man she thought she was falling for would never want to get close to her because of the powers she'd never asked for. It was all too much for Rose to take, plus she was starting to ache where her chest and ribs were all bruised up, before Max knew what was happening, Rose ran from the table, bursting into tears as she headed for his living room.

"Oh way to go...I said something wrong again...what is it with me? Rose!" Max called, running after her, after his berating of himself, and he found her on his couch with her face buried in her hands, sobbing lightly. "Rose? I didn't mean to...upset you, whatever I said wrong I'm sorry..." he said, hesitating for a bit, as he reached a hand out towards her, before he placed it on her shoulder lightly, which caused Rose to look up at him, with a tear stained face.

"I'm a freak Max," Rose whispered lightly, she found the words pouring out of her before she could stop herself, and she wasn't sure why, but the compassion Max was showing towards her had something to do with it.

"Huh? Rose you're no freak, heh believe me you look...well nothing like the definition of a freak, what makes you think that?" Max asked, taking a seat beside her slowly, as Rose turned towards him, looking on the verge of tears once more, as she fiddled with her hands in her lap.

"I've got powers Max...like Spider-Man, like Electro, like all of them...I just...well I didn't have them yesterday, but today when I was on my way over here, I got lost and...these two men attacked me, it just happened before I could even think. I beat them up without laying a finger on them...you called Spider-Man a freak back at the table and...I thought since I was like him...you'd think I was one too..." She said lightly, not looking up at Max.

Max stared at Rose for a moment, before he actually smiled, placing one of his fingers beneath her chin lightly, and lifted her head so she was looking him in the eyes, as he kissed her softly on the lips.

Rose sat back a little, placing a hand to her lips, that kiss felt so familiar....almost like when...."Max?" Rose asked, tilting her head to the side lightly, as he nodded his head. Max held a hand up so Rose could see, as his fingertips crackled with electricity, before he cut off the flow of power, to brush some of her hair behind her ear lightly.

"I should've told you from the beginning Rose...but I was, like you, afraid of what you'd think...I have 'em too Rose, I have powers like you, I am Electro." Max said, as Rose felt a wave of relief wash over her, Max didn't think she was a freak, in fact, he was just like she was, and she was very glad to learn about it too.

"Max..." Rose said, throwing her arms around him, to hug him lightly, and Max wrapped his arms lightly back around her.

"It's alright Rose..."

"But how did I get them? I don't understand..." Rose said, lifting her head lightly to look at Max, who pulled out a two day old newspaper from the table beside him.

"Read it Rose...this article explains everything...that lake you crashed into a few days back...they did a follow up article on it once the insurance people did a bit more investigating into your accident around the lake. There was toxic waste dumped in the bottom of it Rose, it seems the government has been dumping it there for years now, they figured no one would ever find out since...well that is a very rural area. Some environmentalists are in an uproar about it now. I'm afraid you got exposed to some radiation that was living in the water, breathed it in, you've had those powers since the moment they brought you out of the lake, it just took what happened to you on your way over here to trigger the powers." Max replied lightly, as Rose skimmed over the article.

"So...because the government was too cheap and lazy to pay to have that waste disposed of properly...I have to suffer?!" Rose said, crumpling the paper up into a ball, tossing it aside, she could feel her blood boiling, how dare they do this to her...what right did they have?!

Max could see the anger in Rose's eyes, it was the same anger he held in his own eyes, everytime Electro took over, and a smirk curled at his lips, as he kissed her lips softly once more. "I'll help you Rose...I'll help you learn everything you need to know and more...I'll help you learn to control your powers as I've learned to do over the years and...if you'll have it, I want you to move in with me...I know how hard it is to find an apartment and...I have a spare bedroom here in my apartment. I want to help you Rose," Max said, which to most people, would be a phrase that sounded foreign coming from someone like Electro.

Rose stared at Max for a moment with moist, blue eyes; thinking over his offer, before she nodded her head one firm, single time. "I want your help Max...and I will take you up on that room. When do we get started with my training?"

"Right now..." Max smirked, as he stood up, offering his hand to Rose, who took it lightly, smirking at Max in return...her life was changing, and with Max's help, Rose was starting to accept that idea.