*Seven*

Paulina was shocked when they breezed through the city, no traffic to hold them back or stop them. In fact, there were hardly any cars on the road, amazingly. Her surprise grew when they actually pulled up in front of the White House itself. And then it grew even further, and turned to full and complete shock, when they strode right into the building and through to the Oval Office where the President himself sat at his desk as though awaiting them.

What the actual hell was going on? She wasn't sure if she wanted to find out or not.

"Everything okay, Mr. President?" Max asked.

"Yes. Something very strange - I-I, I thought I was somewhere else entirely... Then suddenly - uh, anyway, hectic times. Give us a minute." He nodded to his assistants and security who nodded and left the room at his request. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lord. In fact, I'm not even sure what we're supposed to discuss," he admitted.

"Exactly that, Mr. President! These hectic days, hectic times, and you."

"Me?"

"Yes. You're having some troubles," Max prompted.

"Everywhere," he sighed. "Cuba, Egypt. Even here. But Russia... Very troublesome. I appreciate your concern, but all the money in the world won't help us now."

"Oh, it's not money I'm offering. You, you are a man of faith, and I have been very blessed lately..." Max leaned forward on the desk and extended both of his hands out to the President. "I want to share my blessing with you. The power of positive thinking." Max practically grabbed the President's hands. "Now, tell me, Mr. President - what do you need? And you're not speaking to me, but to the universe. What do you wish for?"

Oh no, not him too... "Excuse me, Mr. President-" Paulina stepped in.

"QUIET!"

She jumped back when Max suddenly shouted - she'd never heard him yell like that before. "Paulina, please. The President is making his wish."

"What's happened to you?" she asked, but Max wasn't focused on her anymore. His attention was back on the President who was speaking.

"What is there to wish for but more? More nuclear weapons. More than they have. Closer to 'em. If I could just have that in place then they would have to listen to us."

"A nice thought. And I grant you-" Max was cut off by a groan. "And you know what I want? I would want all of your power, influence, authority. All the respect you command and the command everyone must respect. I mean, what else is there?" Max laughed, and something dribbled onto the surface of the president's desk.

Blood.

When Max stood up, his nose was bleeding, and one of his eyes had gone very red and irritated. "Now, tell your people that I would like absolutely no interference whatsoever. No taxes, no rule of law, no limits. Treat me like a foreign nation with absolute autonomy."

Paulina was speechless - was this really happening?

The President rose from his desk. "Very good, Sir. Right away." The roles had switched - everyone looked to Max now, who was looking over at some display board outlining a project the President had clearly been working on.

"What's this?"

"Global Broadcast Satellite," the President explained. "Top-secret program that enables us to override any broadcast system in the world, in case we need direct contact with the people of an enemy state."

"So you're taking over everyone's TVs? How?"

"It uses particle beam technology. Apparently it bathes the landscape in a signal of particles that goes in and fiddles with any technology it touches. New or old, broadcast whatever you want. Very impressive."

This got Max's attention. "You said 'touches'? As in the particles you are sending are touching everything?"

"It's a figure of speech, but yes. That's how it was explained to me-"

"I need immediate access to this satellite and a chopper!"

"Yes Sir, right away." With a mere snap of his fingers, the President got him just that.

"Max - Max you're bleeding," Lina cried.

"It's no worry." He wiped his nose with the tissue.

"Max, you're scaring me, Max..." With out another thought she turned and fled from the room.

"Stop her!" she heard him shout. "Don't let her leave!"

She was just rounding a corner when she ran into something - someone. A woman dressed in armour - yes, armour - and a man.

"Max Lord, where is he?" asked the woman.

"Lina!" Max appeared, surrounded by his new security troop. Suddenly, he was wrapped up in what looked to be a glowing rope of some sort. The armoured woman held onto the other end of the rope.

"Well aren't you resourceful," Max remarked. Did he know these people? He spoke as though he did.

"Come with me before you do any more damage, Max," said the woman. Her accent caught Lina's ears - she had a very unique voice that Lina immediately recognized.

"No, I don't think so. Remove this woman please - permanently," Max requested.

Without further ado, the guards jumped into action and opened fire. Who were these people?

The woman was wearing red, blue, and gold armour, and was swinging around her glowing golden rope, using it as a defense and weapon.

But wait, the man with her was Mr. Trevor, from the Smithsonian that day in Max's office, and the woman was Ms. Prince...

That's where she recognized the woman's voice from. She had only met them briefly, but she would remember anyone clearly who came to tell her that her boyfriend had stolen from the Smithsonian.

And wait - not only that, but a heroic woman wearing armour with a glowing rope? That sounded an awful lot like the headlines across the news...

It was D.C.'s mystery heroine, her own hero, right there before her, Ms. Prince from the Smithsonian.

She wished she could have a moment to appreciate this fact - but the constant gunshots really killed the mood.

And not to mention the fact that the heroine was trying to stop Lina's boyfriend. That really killed the mood as well.

Lina curled up in a ball - as small as she could - behind a cabinet as the guards continued to shoot. She covered her ears, wincing with every shot that was made.

When she opened her eyes, Max was gone, as well as the security guards - some had been knocked down while others must have followed Max. Ms. Prince and Mr. Trevor were standing over her.

"Are you okay?" Ms. Prince asked. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"You're the ones who were in Max's office. Are you D.C.'s Mystery Heroine?" Was her hero really standing there before her?

"Yes and yes, both are correct."

"Please, help me. I don't understand what's going on - Max won't tell me, he's hiding something I know it! He startled talking about this magic stone, and then he started granting wishes and they seemed to be coming true, but he's getting hurt, and, and-" She was rambling.

"Ms. Quintana, you are right, something to do with the stone and wishes is happening, and we're trying to stop it before it gets any more out of hand," Ms. Prince assured her. With that they charged after Max, Paulina following moments later.

But Ms. Prince and Mr. Trevor were suddenly thrown back. Another woman, who seemed to be defending Max, and who also looked familiar, stood there.

Dr. Minerva, also from the Smithsonian, who Max had introduced Lina to that night at the gala.

Max took off while Dr. Minerva held back Ms. Prince and Mr. Trevor. Lina charged after him.

"MAX!"

The guards immediately turned to her, weapons raised.

"No! Do not harm her!" Max cried.

"You started this, make it stop!" she cried.

"Don't you see?" He grabbed her arms. "We can have everything now! Black Gold is thriving, you, Alastair and I can be a family. You can quit your job-"

"Quit my job? I like my job. I don't want to quit - you have no idea what I want! I want you back! I want all of this to stop!"

"Not granted!"

"Shut up! Just shut up!" She pulled away from his grasp on her arms. Stop - get away from me! Don't touch me!"

"Lina!"

But she took off running, not daring to look back.

Yikes! Things are certainly taking a turn! As always, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)