A/N Hey! Sorry for the long hiatus, I had college, and then Covid hit and then I got into other fandoms, but I am trying to finish my other WIPs.

Can't say when I'll next upload by I'll try not leave it hanging for five years again.


Futile

For the next several hours, Max installed wires, hammered in nails, and screwed things tightly in place. He had to swallow the bile rising in his throat as he did as Madame X asked. He hated this, hated being a pawn in some vile person's scheme. Hated that he was being bribed to kill thousands of people.

But what could he do? If he stopped Crystal would…

Please let me go.

Max shook his head. I can't. He whispered as he installed another red wire into the machine. I can save you and then none of this will matter. I can finally be your hero.

By being the Villain?

"If that's what it will take," Max muttered.

You were always my hero. Crystal's voice said sounding close to despair.

But it wasn't enough. Max thought to himself turning a wrench. Nothing I did ended up mattering, did it?

It mattered more than you could ever have realized. Please stop.

Max shook his head and with a final turning of a screw, he stood and wiped his brow. "I'm done." He said turning to Madam X.

Max, please think about what you're doing!

Madam X smiled "Good."

Max glared at her. "And what about my payment?"


Phoebe didn't know what to do. Everyone had left, to try and stop Max from what he was planning.

She had to find him. Maybe as his twin, she could talk him down. She'd known Crystal, not as well as Max (no one knew Crystal as well as Max) but she'd liked her. Crystal had been good for Max, maybe she could use that to stop him.

Phoebe knew it was a long shot. He'd been planning this for years, it was likely that nothing was going to sway him now, but she had to try.

Maybe if she could get him to stop, they wouldn't wipe his memory, wipe away the only thing he had left of his best friend.

But how to find him? He'd left with Madame X, and who even knew how to find them now?

Phoebe looked toward Max's room. It was a long shot but maybe he left clues as to where Madam X's hideout was.

She walked over and pressed the button that revealed the entrance of his room and slid down into his lair.

She looked at his room for a moment letting herself feel a moment of sadness as she took in the proof of his desperate attempt to be taken seriously as a villain.

Then she shook his head and made her way to his laptop.

It was unlikely that she'd be able to hack into Madam X's lair, (Max was better with computers than she was) but maybe she sent messages that would clue her into where he was.

She opened his laptop and started typing away. (Password had 'Crys4l' gosh could he have been any more predictable?)

Within moments she came across three years' worth of correspondence. It was mostly henchmen who contacted Max about items he needed, but on occasion, he was asked to meet with Madam X in person.

Not obvious to the average person but it was very 'obvious' to someone who spent their entire childhood learning how to be a hero.

They were all like: "I left a green bag at the park can you grab it? I'll take it off your hands the next time we meet."

"There's a book that might help if we meet at the bookstore at 2 I can show you where it is."

"Anniversary of her death is coming up, how about we meet at her grave" That seemed particularly cruel to Phoebe, and she noticed that Crystal's grave was mentioned as a meeting place when Max had done something Madame X disagreed with.

Still, she mapped out the different places, and except for the grave, she managed to map out where each of the meetups was.

She stared at the map once she'd found all the meetups and stared. All the places were around a warehouse district.

Phoebe smiled sadly. She had a place to start.


A/N Max has just finished installing his machine, now all that's left is payment, meanwhile Phoebe thinks she has lead. Let's see how this will go.