Max came to, eyes fighting to focus on the dizzy world around her.
"My head." She groaned, holding the back of her aching skull. Opening her eyes revealed a lot more than she desired. . . it looked like her dream, the dream she had about the garden.
Max forced herself to sit up.
'It's just an illusion, it's just an illusion. It's not real.' The colors, the landscape, the smells. Her senses were being fooled constantly. . .who could know about that expect the therapist?
'I'm dreaming, see Maxine Gibson. . . . this is just the dream again.'
But when she stubbed one of her toes on the concrete fountain, suddenly she knew she wasn't going to wake up and fall out of bed. Her heart sunk. Something was very wrong.
Max started walking, clutching the dress to herself, asking herself where the heck was she going in a place that was only real in her imagination.
"I think you should be going to Old Town." Bruce Wayne suddenly said aloud to his protege when a flashing red dot caught his eye on the computer.
"Old Town?" The younger Bat came toward Wayne faithfully planted at the supercomputer, preparing for his night's work. "Whose giving me job security now?"
"Maxine."
Terry's eyes flashed behind the cowl for a second, thankful no one could his the expression on his face. "What do you mean?" He asked Wayne.
"The tracer in her wristwatch places her near the Heartz Factory and the boondocks-"
"A tracer in her watch? She has one?" Terry interrupted briefly.
"She does now." Bruce calmly answered.
"How did you get a tracer in her watch?" Terry raised an eyebrow.
"Easy. When she took it off."
Terry wanted to inquire more but he knew Bruce had mysterious ways. Terry soon left the cave.
Angel wasn't herself an she knew it.
When the glass fell from her hand early that Friday morning, it was confirmed.
Ira Billings' voice floated above her head earlier that day as he sat in a chair as if he were interviewing her like a patient.
"Rest easy, my love. Your time awaits."
She collapsed to the floor when Ira walked into the room. . . . waking up, she found herself somewhere new. The words on the walls read MIMI'S DOLLS.
Angel fought to get to her feet yet her legs gave away again, she couldn't move. She started screaming her captor's name, pulling herself across the floor in her now dusty kimono.
"Ira! Ira, what have you done to me!?"
No one but the dark and the dust answered her in the abandoned doll factory.
"IRA!"
A light flashed in the room sending Angel back into the farthest corners of her already twisting mind.
When Max came around a corner, she stepped onto a set of the grounds trimmed into a large chess board except this area was very open. The landscape matched the black and alternating red colors to fit the chess motif. Even the grass alternated with the high unusual colors. Large statues carved into chess pieces stood on opposite sides of the field, black and red pieces.
Max had toyed with chess for a year and then realized that something was missing–the two queens.
The black queen and, in this case, the red queen.
"You'll be checkmated soon enough." A feminine voice called behind her when a long lance slammed into the ground next to her.
Max jumped out of the way, turning around when finding herself safe.
Her eyes grew big at the sight before her.
Angel Proctor dressed as the towering red queen.
"I won't run from you." Maxine suddenly yelled.
"Good, then I won't have to worry about you disappearing."
Her katana seemed to appear out of nowhere on the chess board. 'This is a setup!'
Max lunged for it as Angel Proctor aimed at her again.
The two women were squaring off on the chess board, fighting with a fierceness of old rivals.
While Angel proved to be more apt at her skill with the lance, Max was no opponent to be taken lightly.
"Why me?" Max growled on the defensive, the blade gleaming with unspoken power.
"Why not!" The former psychologist took another swing at the student, missing her again.
"So you're quick." Angel sneered, turning around to find her opponent.
Max circled her, waiting for another swing, "I took a few lessons from the last time you tried to kill me."
Angel took a breath, "And this time, there is no try!" A fourth swing meant for Max hit air.
"I thought the nuthouse was doing you some good but I guess I was wrong."Maxine teased, dancing around her, katana poised.
"You guessed wrong about many things, Pinky."
Angel's swing was blocked by the katana's blade.
"Come on, little girl, take this beating!" She growled at Maxine, putting all of her weight into the lance. Max used all of hers to hold the lance off with the katana. "You might as well, your little batty cant save you."
A savage cry tore from the darker woman's mouth, "I'm don't need him!"
They broke apart. The battle continued for what felt like hours. The sound of slashing and clanging was heard, neither woman making a connection to her opponent's physician body with a blow. Max suddenly tried to cut the in lance in half, but the blade was locked in a stalemate with the lance.
"Give up!" The Red Queen/Angel screamed as the girl strained back.
"Yeah right!" Max pushed back, Angel stumbled back into one of the figures.
Angel shook herself then with a new strength, vessels appeared under her arms. The blood was pumping through her veins as fast as the drugs were. Max didn't shield herself, she waited to deliver a blow finally, to end this charade.
But when Angel charged at her, the older woman collapsed next to her breathing heavily.
