"Max! Max! Max!" Joshua ran to the door of the suburban house and pounded on it loudly with his calculus book. The door was opened by Lydecker, and Joshua cowered a little and averted his eyes.
"Max not here?" Joshua asked.
"She's sleeping in the backyard," Lydecker said. Joshua nodded and ran around the house and to large, grassy backyard.
"Max! Max!" Joshua huffed, running (and slipping sometimes on the still-wet grass) to the blue tent. He bent down and tapped Max on the shoulder with his large costume paw. "Max! Max!" Max opened her eyes blearily.
"Ugh, Joshua, what are you doing here?" she asked, looking around. No Alec. Maybe the whole conversation with him had been some sort of strange, anger-induced hallucination.
"Asha! Joshua just came back from hospital!" Joshua said in a rushed voice.
"What about Asha?" Max asked, suddenly alert. Joshua gestured wildly with his hands for a minute, then explained.
"She can't -- can't lead. She -- broken -- leg very bad."
"She broke her leg?" Max asked.
"And three ribs."
"Ouch." Max felt slightly guilty for plotting the blonde's cheerleading career's destruction, then causing it.
"She -- you --" Joshua flailed again, waving his arms wildly and looking like a super-sized bloodhound trying to fly.
"Take deep breaths, Joshua," Max instructed. "Deep breaths." Joshua did as she said, inhaling and exhaling slowly. "Good. Now what's going on?"
"Captain!" Joshua exclaimed.
"What?" Max asked, getting out of the sleeping bag and standing up. "Who's captain?"
"Asha -- you -- says captain!"
"Joshua!" Max said sharply, seizing the two dog ears on either side of his mask and pulling him down to her level. Joshua looked at her from underneath his large costume helmet, his blue eyes blinking. "Who is the captain?"
"You!" Joshua said, jumping up and down again.
"Me?"
"You!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!"
"She didn't say some name that sounded a lot like mine? Maybe you didn't hear it right -- y'know she's got a few teeth missing..."
"You!" Joshua repeated. "You! You! You! Max is captain!" It still took Max about three minutes to absorb this.
Writer's Note: I hope I'm getting Joshua right... Mostly the chapters will be like this. Short and simple. I think.
Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel. Plain and simple.