July 30th, 2001
Distorted Voice: So, you killed Atwater, and for what? So you could avenge a dead person?
Max: Yes...
Max, after a couple of moments, gets irritated.
Max: Wait. Why do you keep asking me questions?
Distorted Voice: Excuse me?
Max: Why do you keep asking? You already know everything!
Distorted Voice: No, Max! We don't know where Parvo's base is! We don't know where his army comes from! Now, thanks to you killing Atwater, you're the only one who knows! One last question Mr. Parker and we will let you go.
Max looks around the dark room he's sitting in.
Max: I don't have time to answer any more questions from FBI wannabes.
Distorted Voice: HEY! You're lucky you still have ears to hear me!
The chair Max is sitting on electrocutes him.
Max: AARRGHHH!
The chair stops and Max tries to get a breath of air.
Distorted Voice: Now then. One last question. Where is Parvo's base?
Max looks at the speaker in the corner of the room.
Max: That question is only between me and the Road Rovers. I will tell you that when they get here.
The chair electrocutes him again.
Max: AARRGHHH!
Distorted Voice: YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LIVE LONGER TO SEE THE SUN IF YOU DON'T ANSWER MY QUESTION!
Max struggles to breathe.
Max: And I will when the Road Rovers get here!
The chair electrocutes him once more.
Max: AARRGHHH!
The chair stops and Max is on the verge of passing out as he tries to get a breath of air.
Distorted Voice: MAX THOMAS PARKER! FOR THE LAST TIME! WHERE. IS. PARVO'S. BASE?!
A couple of moments pass. Max can get enough air to breathe in and out. He looks at the speaker.
Max: Not. Until. I. See. The Road. Rovers.
Another couple of moments pass.
Distorted Voice: (sighs) Right.
The lights in the room Max is in turn off.
Max: Hey! Turn them back on!
Max pleads for a couple of minutes for the lights to be turned on. After that time passes, Max hears what sounds like a door unlocking and then a door opening. The door closes and he can hear footsteps near him. The lights turn back on, temporarily blinding Max. When his vision comes back to him, he sees a Golden Retriever sitting across from him, who looks angry at him.
Max: (slightly chuckles) How revealing.
Hunter reaches across the table and punches Max. He sits back in his chair.
Hunter: This isn't meant to be a laughing matter, Mr. Parker. You disobeyed orders and ran off to go after Atwater.
Max looks back at Hunter.
Max: I was helping you finishing our mission.
Hunter: We were already on our way to get him. Yet you still went after him to go on a personal vendetta.
Max: He killed Groomer.
Hunter: Atwater never had military experience. He never knew how to hold a rifle in his hands.
Max: Then tell me, leader, who killed her in the first place?
Hunter presses a button on his hand, which electrocutes Max.
Max: AARRGHHH!
The chair stops electrocuting him.
Max: THAT'S THE SIXTH TIME YOU DONE THAT TO ME!
Hunter stares at him.
Hunter: Am I asking the questions or are you?
Max sighs and sits back.
Hunter: Now then, Max Thomas Parker, I'm getting tired of asking this question, so I'm asking you one last time. Where is Parvo's base?
Max sighs.
Max: I don't know. All I know is that it's an island that's been deserted for a long time, located far in the Pacific Ocean. I don't know the exact longitude and latitude.
Hunter sits back in his chair.
Hunter: Effective immediately, you are suspended from the Road Rovers. We are reassigning you to the Space Rovers.
Max is in shock.
Max: For what? I gave you what you wanted.
Hunter: Yet you went out on some vengeance quest against the people you worked for. We wanted Atwater here to question him, not to kill him!
Max shrugs.
Max: I thought I was doing the world a favor. I thought one less psycho would be enough to help the world.
Hunter: (scoffs) Yeah. Psycho. Here we are trying to figure out where Parvo is so we can end this war once and for all, and you give us a psycho. If you didn't do this in the first place, we would've questioned you just like what we are doing now. We could've let you stay here, but no, you just wanted to follow in your father's footsteps.
Max looks at Hunter, angrily.
Max: I am not my father.
Hunter stares at Max in stern.
Hunter: You're not yourself. The Max I know wouldn't outright kill 27 people, including the man who would've given us everything we needed. Vengeance is a funny thing to have in our society nowadays. It changes you. It turns you into a person you once thought weren't capable of being. I think you're so blinded by both vengeance and rage, that you can't tell the difference between your allies and your enemies. I am sending you to the Space Rovers, away from Earth and society, the only way you can get yourself recuperated.
Max looks around and then back to Hunter.
Max: Why don't I just stay here, until we get to Parvo? I'm ready to deal with him.
Hunter: Okay, Max. Let's say I allow that. I allow you to go after Storm and Parvo. But even after they're gone, you will keep going after another person that worked for him, and another, and another. Until one day, you'll wake up to realize that revenge has now become part of your life, and you will never find the answer to why. So, no, Max. I will not allow that, and neither will Shepherd.
Max looks at Hunter.
Max: Then you both have my resignation. I demand to be cured right now. I don't want this anymore.
Hunter slams his hand on the table in anger.
Hunter: We are a property of the United States government, Parker! We're not a country club where you can waltz here and decide that you had enough! I'll decide when you are done! When you get back here, I expect you to be changed where we can trust you again. Until then, you are suspended from the Road Rovers and reassigned to the Space Rovers. You leave tomorrow morning. That should give you enough time to know what you're doing with your future.
Hunter presses a button that releases Max from the chair. He gets up and opens the door.
Hunter: Oh, and Max?
Max looks at Hunter.
Hunter: Don't you ever do anything like that to Colleen again or I will do worse to you.
Hunter closes the door. Max sits there and after thinking of the decisions he made to get here, he starts crying. He cries and cries till his throat was welled up. After a couple of minutes, he leaves the room to go outside.
Max finds himself outside of the base. He walked around the base for a long time until he stopped. He stares deeply into the gold encased wall of the fire hydrant. He hears someone walking behind him and turns to see Colleen. Max, even though he knows what he has done to her, smiles a bit to see her in his presence. Colleen sees this and slightly smiles. She starts to walk with Max around the base.
Colleen: So, you're that guy who left me at that tree three years ago.
Max nods.
Max: That's correct.
Colleen: It was such a bully thing for you to do.
Max: I knew you were going to be safe anyway.
Colleen looks over to Max.
Colleen: How long did it take for your body to stop feeling sore?
Max looks at Colleen.
Max: Two weeks.
Colleen stops and so does Max.
Max: Colleen?
Colleen sighs and looks at this Alaskan Malamute, who she is having trouble trying to get back to connecting with him as a best friend.
Colleen: I want to ask you a question. All I want from you is the truth.
Max looks at the Rough Collie, who he is having trouble trying to find the right way to apologize.
Max: What do you want to ask me? I think I answered enough questions from your boyfriend.
Colleen looks at Max with a stern look.
Colleen: Why did you come here?
Max makes a notion to himself with his hands.
Max: This. I don't want this anymore. I'm done with it. I'm done with this fight.
Max turns to see the gold encased wall of the fire hydrant.
Colleen: I'm glad that you want it to be over.
Max: I do.
Colleen: The thing I don't get about that answer is that, even though I only know you for a year; during that time, you never gave up on anything. You sure haven't given up to get where you wanted to before you were turned into this. And now here you are, willing to give up.
Max turns to Colleen.
Max: I don't know what you guys want me to say. I mean, look at me. Do any of you guys think that I wanted this? I didn't. I never once asked or wanted it. All I wanted was to go out into the world and help people. I thought that if I joined Parvo and got my ten million dollars, I would get my chance to do so! But that door surely was closed the day I became this to be the first test subject, a choice I regretted EVER since! Why couldn't Shepherd let you guys know who I am right from the beginning? He didn't have to let me stay here and lie to you guys, making you guys think I was just some lucky dog to be having these powers and to be staying here for this long!
Colleen sighs.
Colleen: He never lied about how good you are as a fighter. We never lied about how we put our trust in you on our missions.
Max: None of those missions were real to me.
Colleen: What do you mean they weren't real?
Max: Those people I fought weren't real! I never fought anybody like me! I never fought anybody who worked hard to get where they wanted to! All of them were just distractions just so I could stay here longer than I should have! When you guys were winning, I was the one who was winning!
Colleen: You may think what they are, but you need to understand that our mission is to help the world! You need to understand that we cared about you, we loved you, and that was our job every time we were on a mission, protecting you!
Max: Protecting doesn't help me, Colleen! It doesn't do anything to me! It makes things worse for me! When you're someone like me, you wake up a couple of years later thinking that you made it, you know, that you succeeded, when you didn't! You failed! And so what if I didn't get cured sooner? So WHAT?! At least all of this would've been real!
Colleen: What are you talking about, Max? This is real!
Max: NOTHING IS REAL IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ANYMORE! I don't believe in myself anymore! When a person doesn't believe anymore, they're done! They're finished! I'm finished, Colleen! I'm DONE!
Colleen: NO YOU'RE NOT!
Max: YES I AM!
Colleen: Why are you acting like this, Max?! What is bothering you?!
Max: What is bothering me? I don't want to lose what I have right now! Back then, when I worked for my dad, I didn't care what happened to me! I got in trouble, I didn't care! But now there's you and the team!
Colleen: You're not answering my question, Max! What is bothering you?!
Max: I'M AFRAID OF TURNING INTO ANOTHER PARVO! OKAY?! I'M SCARED OF BEING OF WHO I DON'T WANT TO BE! FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME, I'M SCARED!
Colleen: I'm scared too! There is nothing wrong with being scared, Max.
Max: Well, Colleen, for me, there is!
Colleen: Why? Aren't you human?
Max: I don't know what or who I am anymore. All I know right now is that I'm a criminal, a killer, and a liar. And because of how reckless I am, Groomer is dead. She is dead because of me!
Colleen: You didn't push her into her death! She was a woman who did what she had to do for you to live! And you have no right to feel guilty for what happened to her! She knew the risks of doing that escape plan! She did everything she could so she could get you here and you can get out of this! You were destined to do what she thought you could do and you did everything you could do to prove to us that you are another great fighter! And you want to tell me that those missions weren't real? They were! Why else were you interviewed and you were praised by everyone that saw how good you are? Every kid on the block would die just to be you! Because you're a Road Rover, just like I am! Almost everyone who knows what we are would give up everything just to be exactly like you or us! People look up to you and us as their heroes! You're the only one that has to carry what you did yesterday for the rest of your life and here you are afraid to be like your father! Afraid that you're going to be remembered as a psychopath, that you're no longer a hero! None of that is true! You are his son, but you're not Parvo! Get rid of that part of him inside you! If you don't, this is going to drive your life out of control and it's just going to get worse and worse! Just look what it's doing to you now! Imagine how it's going to go if you keep letting it happen! No one will recognize you, not even your family or your mother! No one will know who you are anymore!
Max looks away from Colleen. Colleen takes a deep breath and lets it out.
Colleen: Look, Max, the Master thinks that this is the right decision for you, and so does Hunter and so do I. We all think this is the right decision for you. If you want to leave us, fine. We won't have regrets about letting you go. But if you want to join the Space Rovers, just for a short time, you need to do it for the right reasons. Not for me, not for Hunter, not for Master, not for us, not for the world, not for Groomer, not for vengeance, heck, not even for money. You do it for yourself. Just you.
Max looks at Colleen, his eyes starting to water.
Max: And if I fail?
Colleen walks up to Max.
Colleen: Then you fail, but at least you'll fail without any excuses.
Max starts crying again as he did before in the interrogation room. He hugs Colleen as tight as he can.
Max: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what I did. I would never do that to you. You're one of the best friends I've had in a long time. Please don't be mad at me.
Colleen puts her hands on Max's back and pats him.
Colleen: I'm not mad at you, Max. And to tell you the truth, it wasn't the first time someone tried to choke me to death.
Max looks up into Colleen's eyes.
Max: You want us to start over? You know, get back to being best friends again?
Colleen looks at Max and smiles as she wipes away Max's tears.
Colleen: We can try.
Max smiles and hugs Colleen, who hugs Max as soft and tight as she could. They both let go of each other and start to walk around the base.
Colleen: So, is my boyfriend a good interrogator?
Max looks at Colleen.
Max: He was quite charming.
Colleen chuckles as they both continue to walk around the base, with Max feeling unsure of what his future will come.
The End of The Vengeance of a Dog.
Max will join the Space Rovers in Venturing into Space...