Of Wolves and Devils: A Dark Angel Fanfiction Story
Episode 15:
Over the rolling in fog, high in the sky…
The Eyes Only private plane is making its descent.
Max is in the back: Gazing out at the fog.
From so high… The landing looks like it's going to be on a giant glacier.
But, as the plane dives into the fog… It gets easier to really tell.
With cat like eyes… She can kind of clearly see the western coasts, pack ice, smaller shards of grease ice, and fjords coming up closer and closer.
Pinkish, bluish, and greenish auroras lightly play through the departing fog.
The Arctic cold spins around. But, the brightness of streetlights cast rays of hope through.
Further from the window… Max is seen in a open mostly black winter coat, jet black winter gloves, and matching boots. Under the winter coat is her mostly blue army jacket, with two brownish tan stripes down the front and red and gray patterned lining in the sleeve wrists. Under that is a light red top.
And, Max is thinking to herself:
Faint chuckle. That's the thing with parkas.
Others wearing them, I got no issue with.
But…something feels kind of bent about a member of the X-5 family wearing animal fur.
Ok. Maybe it is just me. But, I fought hard for double jackets. And, that's what I got.
Only…I don't always go looking for a fight.
Moderate sigh.
Maybe it's not helped by the ZFA bringing the Pulse to the western side of the world. Maybe I do have friends to be there by me.
But, sometimes…I wonder if I am just going to be poison to him.
And, I'm not talking about being a killing machine. I mean just poison.
We end up fighting over and over. This one almost took us both down.
What if we're not going to stay together: On account of me being too much of a bitch for him?
Sniffle.
Still… It wouldn't be the first time I was worrying over what turned out to be no big dealio.
Faint amused chuckle.
It's also nice to know I'm not alone on that.
Sketchy…I know you'd know what I'm talking of.
Most guys wouldn't know how you can worry, Sydney.
But, after kicking it with you and Samantha for a while… I believe it.
You wouldn't admit it yourself. But, you embarrass kind of easily.
Even when I asked if you did any VR work outside of VR.5 to 9, you were embarrassed to tell me you got a thing for beta testing virtual parks before they open up on the streets.
You thought it was "not exactly something other people could really get: Especially with me as the Chief Technology Officer, who often works with middle aged people of different political stands".
I invited her to see the world for what it is.
Ok. Maybe she didn't like my view of the broken world. But, it helped her realize the world isn't really running on government guys and spies in offices any more: It's running on survival.
It's something, anyway.
So is this trip out to see Phil.
Kind of funny it's taken him more than six months to kind of come back. And, of all places, to end up in Greenland: The only country with a large ice sheet for a center.
Not that I'm complaining. These guys sure as hell know how to survive and chill. But…yeah.
It should help me kind of come out of my headspace so I can have some fun.
Faint chuckle. I hear a lot of them like to laugh and play and hunt.
But, long as it's with me and not at me…I'll be ok.
A half hour or so after, down on the surface…
As Max is walking down the boulder stone carved road… The Nuuk Air Greenland Port in blocky dark blue is off to the distance behind her.
The Eyes Only private plane is already on its way back to Seattle: Taking off from the black airstrip, into the bluish auroras amidst the fogged over night sky.
Before the Pulse… Airports just used to be called airports.
Greenland's airports have been turned into Air Greenland Ports: Reminiscent of fishing days gone by and coming up, with dock styled roofs and meat market styled terminals.
Nuuk had asphalt for roads. But, it was taken out for boulder stone…with many a wide eyed face and swirl carved in, in a winding tale of unspoken confused joy at how far Greenland has come.
The mountains are snowless and thinner.
High up them, many a tomb with loosely piled rocks have withstood the icy winds of change.
Down them though…are a surprisingly cooling testament to Greenlander ingenuity and tradition.
Rock cobbled paths are plenty, as walking trails from villages to Nuuk. Although, the snowbanks on the ground makes the rocks almost invisible.
Aluminum ski lifts and streetlights can be seen along most every path.
Some aluminum smelters are in the center of some of the big villages.
Blocky blue and red wind turbines circle around all the small villages. Blocky yellow and green hydropower plants are along the coastlines: Right next to the docks.
After the Pulse… A lot has changed for the better for the Greenlanders. They weren't even hit.
Though, being surrounded by thousands of breaking off ice shards every single day would make for a extremely tough target for a Pulse to get through.
With significant research gone into Canadian weather planes… Greenland's environment has been slowly but surely recovering from global warming.
It may have been and still is a strenuous partnership. But, out there every two weeks, there's weather planes ensuring no smog reaches Greenland skies.
Meanwhile… The Greenland National Park and many national parks over Nunavut and Canada have been working to bring back as many animals as humanely possible: In the hope of restoring the cycle of life across the world. Most Greenlanders also hope to one day have plenty of animals to hunt more again, as part of a growing movement toward reconnecting with their ancestors's way of life.
A half hour or so later…
The fog gives way to night. Many a star and flashes of auroras dance in their light.
Max comes down a hill slope. And, coming up before her… There's the village of Kapisillit.
The villages have done away with wooden houses. They've put up mostly solid ice sludge mixed in sod huts, with wooden pieces going from dark red to bright blue.
Greenland has even taken the time to take apart every remnant of Denmark left.
They've transformed the US military bases and Danish offices into open prisons.
In the Pulse's wake… Every US and DK government and military official has been relocated back as "respectfully requested to help themselves rebuild their countries."
Surprisingly… It went very well, and wasn't met with much resistance.
Even Danish signs and most companies have been relocated back to Europe as "respectfully requested to help themselves rebuild". White signs with Greenlandic and English are everywhere.
This has all been met with some violent protests over the past decade from European immigrants, and from some European sympathetic Greenlanders.
For the Inughuit clan up north though, this was a very welcome change.
In recent years, they even sent some of their people down to Western Greenland to see if there could be more welcome changes: Which they welcomed.
Max faintly smirks to herself…as she passes some teenagers with mostly dark hair and dark red and yellow thick coats. They're by the coastline: Looking "more than a little handsy" with one another.
As she walks further into the village, she sees fifteen Greenlanders in sealskin parkas: Returning with some pulled in big sleds under two shot narwhals. There are hints of amulets on necklaces around some of their necks. Mostly brown hunting rifles and harpoons are easy to see from the hunters's sides.
Max says, "nice catch."
They pause a bit.
Some of the young hunters raise their eyebrows, with a faint smile and a chuckle.
Most of the hunters just blankly stare back. But, tired eyes are across all of their faces.
As politely as she is able… Max faintly smiles back and keeps going.
She can't help but feel a little shaken. But, she also feels some comfort in doing some research of her own before coming here: Not the least of which that raised eyebrows usually means yes, and a squint of the eyes or scrunching of the nose often means no.
She finds a mostly ice sludge sod hut with wood green pieces.
She's half expecting to open the door. But, there seems to only be a open entrance.
Max continues in, through a small bluish rug covered area where several coats and pairs of boots are kept. There's a short flight of stairs, leading up to a sliding fiberglass screen in wooden floorboards.
She leaves her coat on a hook on a wooden plank, and her boots under it. But, she takes out a large bike chain from one of her coat pockets to lock around them in a big x.
Then, Max pockets the metal key for the lock on her way up.
She goes up. But, she's a little surprised at how chilly things have suddenly gotten around her.
The dimly lit main level is a mostly gray kitchen area and a wide open living room.
There's two gray TVs, two slightly curved snow white black lined couches, a kind of large antenna in the back to help with satellite reception, and two good old fashioned built in gray computer terminals with some thick waterproof covered black fiber optic cables running through.
Two large box like flights of metal stairs lead up to bedrooms and bathrooms on either side of the hut. But, only the bedrooms and bathrooms have fiberglass windows.
A Greenlandic woman is drinking coffee from a curved up glass cup. She has slightly curly long dark brown hair and wears a cleavage showing white dress.
She looks a little startled as she places her cup down. But, as she sees Max, she faintly smiles.
In a faintly deep Greenland accent, the woman says, "haluu. Ajunngilatit?"
With white socks with two black lines down both sides… Max somewhat slowly turns to face her: Careful not to slip on the wooden floor as she leaves the chill behind.
Max faintly smiles, "I'm ok, thanks. Name's Max."
She starts offering to politely shake hands. Though, she quickly thinks better of it.
The woman gets a light chuckle from that.
A little embarrassed sounding, Max adds, "sorry."
With some raised eyebrows, the woman mostly assures, "Ajunngilaq. Mik ateqarpunga Kare."
Slightly relieved, Max says, "thanks. It's nice to meet you."
Past the awkward, she's been piecing together her dialect: Just in slightly longer time than usual.
In Greenlandic, Kare considers openly, "of course. Any friend of Phil is a friend of mine. Slight chuckle. He…slight chuckle…made a really interesting impression."
Max hands over a wad of cash, putting it on the counter for her seven day stay.
Slightly amused, Max comments, "slight chuckle. That he is."
Kare finishes the rest of her coffee.
Max suddenly asks, "you're not serious with him: Are you?"
Kare breathes in awkwardly. But, a light squint of the eyes quickly answers her.
Max faintly nods, "ok. Sorry if I brought up…"
Kare lightly insists, "it is all right. I am married to a husband. But, after the first days with Phil as our guest… Slight chuckle. I have seen worse. Let us just end the conversation there so you can get some sleep and start feeling less awkward tomorrow."
Max faintly smiles, "sure. That would be good." Kare adds, "you are welcome."
As she starts heading up one of the steps though… She turns back to her.
Max comments, "I don't sleep. But, thanks for offering."
A little worried sounding, Kare points out, "all right. But, those that walk into the day blind with tiredness and desire…end up in storms they never saw coming."
With a slight roll of her eyes, Max puts her hands up. Almost defeated sounding, she goes, "oh, fine. You caught me. I take a lot of naps. Now, can you tell me where my room is?"
Kare lightly chuckles, "sure. You will find your room on the third floor, up the stairs to your right. But…" Max asks, "what?"
Kare answers, "Phil has been asking for you. You might want to go see him before your nap."
Half jokingly, Max reasons, "sure. So…just where is my "superhero" friend?"
Slightly amused, Kare figures, "he's on the same floor as you. But, up the stairs to your left."
Max adds with a slight smile, "thanks for the update. Anything else?"
Kare says, "of course. You should also know my husband Râvfaile, our children, and the dog and the cats are upstairs. Please try your best not to wake them."
Max starts heading up the steps to the left. But, she turns back to her.
Max says, "sure. Thanks." Kare adds with a light chuckle, "you are welcome."
Max continues heading up the steps, toward the third floor.
Doorways with sliding in fiberglass and thin metal shutters go from floor to floor.
Further up the steps, there's a third set of stairs leading to a fiberglass trapdoor.
And, like with every Post-modern sod hut, there's a special mostly metal box.
Noticing the trend of darker ice… Greenland invested in reconstructing construction equipment with waterproof casing to help scoop out darker ice and soil, and to replace it with lighter ice and soil.
Over time, they've been slowly keeping Greenland's ice safe from global warming.
But, in late 2009… Greenlanders realized they could do much more with their scoops of ice.
In a year… Greenland was growing dark ice sludge at a astounding profit: Making more than enough to pay off blocks grant from Denmark, and giving themselves their long sought independence.
It was processed to be coolant for Post-Pulse fridges…and for something even more relieving.
For themselves and most of Europe… Greenland created inexpensive heating systems and coolant systems rolled into one: Mostly just out of ice sludge.
In Europe… The dark ice sludge is left in a mostly metal enforced tank next to a window.
In Greenland… The tank is on top of the roof, with a system of thin metal shades over its top.
Raise the shades, seal the tank's glass top, and in comes the sun to heat the house. Close the shades, open the tank, and the whole house cools in spreading out arctic frost.
Also, in related news… Greenland turned to marketing their own poop for fertilizer for corners of other countries: Partly so that they don't need to get trash collectors from Denmark to collect it.
There's no water in their non-flushable toilets: Only sliding chutes with a lot of ice sludge to slide down the poop into smallish blue dumpsters marked Fertilizer in red.
Not long after, in a certain room on the 3rd floor…
On a blackish blue monitor, there's a open TELE Greenland digital archive file. On the file… A sunset in reddish auroras casts a not so icy shadow over the Greenland ice sheet.
With yellow sirens blaring… Three white cars with Înungniaĸ Nakuarssûvoĸ across their doors in red are speeding on, with quadruple joystick controlled steering skis over their clamp locked wheels.
They're pursuing a boat wide mostly gray blackish metal sled. It's got bright red plumbing tubes around its center, unleashing contained air from opening left and right valves to steer and make it go.
The guy at the purplish controls wears a Viking helmet, a solid black mask, and a metal studded sealskin parka without a hood up. Chained up to the tubes in back is a medium gray haired man in a dark blue business shirt under a heavy yellow winter coat, with a big purplish bruise over his forehead.
The Înungniaĸ Nakuarssûvoĸ is gaining on them.
With a loud sharp breathing in sigh… The masked guy turns sharply around at the edge of a ice crater, whipping around while it's skidding.
A car speed charges for him…only for the masked guy to pull out a black shotgun and fire.
Glass shatters. A hunter in sealskin with a hunting rifle and a wood carved badge falls back dead, as brief flashes of dark red liquid splatter are seen against a light brown padded seat.
A hunter in sealskin who's driving reactively ducks as he struggles to keep a hand on the wheel.
He exclaims, "oh, hov!"
The first car goes flying into the ice crater: Crashing down in sparks of electricity and a burst of melting off ice. The driver's final scream echoes out from the ice.
As the two remaining cars close in… The masked guy unleashes all the contained air he's got.
He speeds off to the far right, ramming at the hood of one of the cars.
It goes skidding. The hood looks very dented on its electric powered side.
But, with a sigh of relief…the hunter who's driving gets control of the wheel.
The third car speeds up off a slanted ice slab, going back after the masked guy.
He's got a lot of speed on his sled: Even with the car landing a good few feet behind him.
The masked guy mutters in Greenlandic, "well, Director Laasa… As it will be with your little company Saffiugassaq Pitsortuvoq… Looks like you're to be dead calm."
With a hand still at the controls… He readies his rifle at the wide eyed Dr. Laasa.
Then though… The sled comes to a stop.
The masked guy cries out, "IIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
He goes flying off…as a brown rustic thin crane like arm grabs him by its hand.
It's a exoskeleton: With brown rustic crane arms with fishing net launchers, matching legs with metal made snowshoes, black metal gauntlets and boots in its thick black cable harness to get it to move, and a ton of whirling motors and waterproof casing cased wiring through its light gray chest plating.
A medium black haired hunter in a heavily layered snow white winter coat is operating it: Smirking in satisfaction as he holds the guy up in the air.
His wooden carved badge shines for a bit in the quickly fading sun.
He figures coldly in Icelandic, "Jôrut…you are going away for a long time."
The hunter hurls Jôrut into his own sled's controls: Knocking him out.
The hunter gets his gloves out of the gauntlets to take out his mostly brown rifle.
And then… He shoots off the chains holding Director Laasa.
With a sharp sigh of relief, Director Laasa thanks him.
The hunter grimly nods, as some hunters get out of the third car to bring in a unconscious Jôrut.
Further back from the screen… There's photos hanging over a wooden table: With Phil's aviator like hat there. The rest of the room is dark.
Phil and Max have been sitting on the edge of the bed, as pitch black comes from the window.
Kind of impressed and kind of not… Max sums up, "so…it had a lot to do with large exo-thingies by a company down in Nuuk." Kind of uneasily, Phil reasons, "yeah."
Turning to him, Max points out, "you know that still doesn't explain why you didn't just tell me all of this sooner."
Phil answers, "I wanted to." Lighter sounding, Max asks, "so why didn't you?"
Phil explains, "moderate sigh. Greenland has got tight security. They follow Japan's example. Not much of anything gets stolen because not much is reported on in the international news."
Max realizes solemnly, "unless it's already ready for commerce and crap. I understand. Doesn't mean it doesn't kind of still bum out my ass. But, yeah."
Phil says, "thanks."
After a small awkward silence… He adds, "I even pre-ordered."
With a slight chuckle, Max comments, "nice. How did you manage?"
With a faint smile, Phil says, "I stayed with my mom for four months: Up along Lake Michigan. Then, as I was heading back to Seattle…I happened to find a lot of motors being shipped overnight. I tracked them to Greenland. And, well…" Max finishes the thought, "…can't argue with destiny."
Phil solemnly says, "right. And, since I have experience in top secret warehouses, I landed a technical job in the back of Saffiugassaq Pitsortuvoq firsthand." Max says, "nice."
Finding it hard to look up…Phil nods, "yes. It was nice."
Getting a weird vibe from him… Max asks, "you ok?"
Phil faintly chuckles, laughing it off, "yeah. Just…it's late: Even for superheroes like us."
Not wanting to argue here…Max faintly smiles, "yeah. Sure."
The following morning…
Out the window from Max's bed… The sky is still quite dim: Like the beginning of a sunrise.
Only, there is no sunrise for another hour. It's the winter dawn over Greenland.
As she's just getting up in her mostly blue swirled bedsheet covered bed… Max faintly chuckles to herself: Almost as though she's admiring her reflection in the sea water over yonder.
Two days later, in the afternoon…
A teenage boy named Agssile is playing a indie game on a Ouya on a TV. With Post-Pulse Greenland's technical hand in the Ouya's inception, it has hit worldwide success.
Agssile has medium dark brown hair, a grass plain themed T-shirt, and light brown jeans.
The game is called Network SoulZapper: Where you can play as a soul hunter for a TV corporation called Network King that wants to only produce satire, and hunt down and zap disagreeing viewers through a cosmic dark purple rimmed 16-bit TV screen overlooking the streets. Or, play as a vocal politician against it who goes undercover as a soul hunter to hunt down soul hunters himself.
Phil is on the couch closer towards him, watching him play his video game.
Slightly turning to him… Agssile offers, "light chuckle. You sure you don't want to play? There's a extra controller." With his dark blue shirt under his open jacket… Phil insists, "thanks. But, I'd rather play as the politician. And, not against you."
Agssile slightly chuckles, "it's only a game. But, whatever works for you."
A teenage girl named Lâvara is on the other couch with Max. Lâvara has fairly long dark brown hair, a light orange T-shirt, blue jeans, and a thick open black winter coat. Max is in her silvery blue top.
The black cat and the mostly orange cat are napping by Lâvara, while she is carving out a trophy like icy waterfall out of Ivory with wood hilted carving tools over a wood slab to catch the fallen pieces.
A slightly amused Max is playing fetch from her edge of the couch with the family pet Shiba Inu named Jack: Bouncing the red ball up from the floor at high speed for him to catch with glee.
Then…Kare calls out from the kitchen, "all right! Lunch is ready."
There's a big foldable wood table next to the kitchen counter, with one and a half reindeer steaks, blackberries, and blueberries out on each plate.
Râvfaile is there already. He has medium black hair, a white shirt, and a open sealskin parka.
Kare comes from the kitchen to sit by him. She wears a cleavage showing light green dress.
Lâvara puts down the carving tools and Ivory. Max and Lâvara get up.
Max grabs the ball in mid-air.
Jack gives a soft high pitched scream, as he reaches out to her with his paws.
Max faintly chuckles in amusement, "Here. Go play with yourself for me. Alpha sees lunch."
She hands the ball over to a satisfied Jack to lightly chew and lick.
Lâvara faintly chuckles in her direction as she goes to eat.
Only slightly reluctantly, Agssile says, "well…ok."
He puts down the controller and gets up to go to eat.
Râvfaile mostly assures, "I am sure it'll still be there when you go back."
As he sits down, Agssile lightly says, "yeah, yeah. I know." Max and Lâvara slightly chuckle.
Max checks, "mind if I wash up?"
Kare says, "not at all. Go ahead." Max adds, "thanks."
Agssile and Lâvara thank their mom. Kare says, "you are welcome."
Everyone starts to eat. But, no one touches Max's plate.
As Max is washing up… She turns back to Phil, "are you sure you're coming? Cause this smells really good."
Distant sounding, Phil answers, "in a minute. Just going upstairs to check on some things." A little puzzled, Max says, "okay."
But, as she's drying up… She notices Phil heading up to his room: Closing the fiberglass and shutters behind him. And, she can't help but feel there's more to this than he says there is.
Two days later…
A light breeze brings snowfall, over the city of Nuuk. Greenland's capital.
With the snow all around, it looks almost like nothing's changed in years.
There's wood apartments and houses of dark gray and light blue. There's carvings and e-books across windows of business offices and government offices.
There's snow white lined buses of mostly sharp yellow.
There's the wood crafted dam styled Katqua Culture Center, busy with activity. And, there's some cafes and burger joints popular with the young: From LivingOffSundaes to TiMeal Coh.
From one village to another, the ice golf courses are rocky with icebergs aplenty. But, the bundled up contestants are good with swinging their yellow golf balls for the ice rimmed holes.
And, out on the city's edge, there's the fine works left from the Nuuk Snow Sculpture Festival.
One is a snow model submarine, with a jaw of snow spikes and a pair of snow eyes closing in. One is of a large triangle eyed musk ox skull. These are but a few of the top five picks.
Max and Lâvara are walking by them, stopping by to admire them.
They're in their black winter coats, with black gloves on. Lâvara has sealskin lining in her coat and gloves, whereas Max is keeping to her double layers of jackets.
Max finds herself looking at the snow model submarine.
Smiling brightly at it… Max says, "impressive."
With some raised eyebrows, Lâvara adds in Greenlandic, "slight chuckle. I thought so too."
Max figures, "thanks. Did you carve this yourself?"
She's lightly running her glove over the snow around the snow eyes.
Lâvara slightly chuckles. She lightly says, "no. One of my friends told me about it. I'm more at home with ivory and wiring myself."
Max goes, "nice." With a smile, Lâvara adds, "thanks."
Max voices coolly, "sure. You planning on becoming a electrician after trade school?"
Sounding a little surprised, Lâvara says, "pretty much. How did you…?"
Max slightly shrugs, "just a little educated guess. I majored in telecommunications."
Lâvara concludes, "light chuckle. Cool." Max adds, "thanks."
With her cat like eyes… Max suddenly sees a gust of smoke…coming from down off the coast.
Pointing in its direction… Max questions, "Lâvara…what's the dealio there?"
Kind of uneasily, Lâvara voices, "oh, that? Faint chuckle. That's Kangeq. It's been abandoned before. Mostly just ancient ruins now." Max realizes, "you mean it wasn't the only time?"
With a slight squint of her teary eyes… Lâvara kind of pushes back, "I don't want to go into it. Moderate sigh. But…let us just say the prison stationed there froze over: Literally."
Max mutters under her breath, "oh, god."
Lâvara admits, "yeah. I kind of know the feeling."
Max wonders uneasily, "can you at least tell me why?"
Lâvara shakes her head: Struggling to hold back tears in her half shut eyes.
Not even looking back… She says somberly, "it would be nice if it was that easy. Sniffle. If you really must know…ask Phil. He would likely know."
With a solemn nod… A slightly teary eyed Max says, "I'll do that."
Lâvara wipes away some tears.
She faintly smiles back, "okay."
After a small awkward silence… Lâvara asks, "umm… Anything else you'd like to see?"
Max figures, "thanks. But…I think it might be good to head back: Be in our own headspaces."
Kind of confused and relieved all at once… Lâvara surmises, "I guess same here."
They both start to head back: Against the elements of the snowfall.
And, as they do… Max is thinking to herself, "sorry, Lâvara. You must have been close to someone serving time in that open prison for a recovery program or something. But…I got to be sure it's really no big dealio: Even if it means opening a big hole in your life."
A hour or so later, out on the Labrador Sea…
Max is thinking to herself:
Phil helped get rid of most of the question marks.
One day…they were testing the newest model of alcohol detoxing cryogenic chambers. No joke.
There was a explosion.
The prison was frozen in ice. Most everyone else in there was frozen to death.
Only one guard made it to shore…before he collapsed.
He ended up telling his story in recovery in a hospital: Right in Nuuk.
On the scene… Max is holding on to the back of the harness of a Savfiugagssaĸ Pitsortuvoĸ exoskeleton: From the same company Dr. Laasa has been heading. And, in the exoskeleton…is Phil.
He's in a sealskin lined coat, and in sealskin lined boots and gloves: All mostly dark brown. Sealskin scarves are wrapped around his face under his aviator like hat.
Phil is swimming them to the rocky shore of Kangeq: Against the rolling in fog and arctic wind.
Sounding out of breath… Phil mutters tensely, "I know I'm helping you out. But…why…couldn't you swim there?"
Max reasons bitchily, "because I've found my mutant DNA is not so big on arctic cold. Deal."
Phil sighs exasperatedly. But, he keeps moving the exoskeleton to swim on.
Later, not long after coming up on shore…
Phil is out of his exoskeleton: Warming up some by the fire before him.
He's put away his scarves, feeling he won't need them anytime soon.
The fire is held in by a six foot cobbled together rock oven.
Not so far away, there's four solid red and yellow bolted in wood houses along a grassy rockbed.
Further inland, there's the solid paint peeling colored houses and the dark religiously reminiscent priest like statue making up the abandoned town of Kangeq. Yet down along the shores, the smell of strong alcohol, frosted over metal parts, and sea animal bones are scattered to the grass.
Max is spying through one of the broken windows of the houses along the rockbed.
She goes wide eyed. For, in the cowbell filled mess covered house…are two bottles of alcohol, floating as they're being drunk out of thin air.
One goes smashing carelessly into the wall, right in a pile of glass shards like it.
Max fast walks back to the fire unnoticed. And, she thinks to herself, "damn."
Turning to her, Phil asks uneasily, "what's up?"
Max admits reluctantly, "I have no idea. You got yourself warmed up enough to get back into your shiny new exo-thing?" A little warily, Phil figures, "yeah. Why?"
Max reasons, "because I got the sense we're gonna…need it."
From behind a solid red house… A punk guy named Vince with sleeked black hair and a matching jacket fires a ray from the open gun barrel of his staff of sharp blue.
Max tumbles off a patch of grass in time, which freezes in seconds.
Phil quickly gets his winter gloves and boots into his exoskeleton's gauntlets and boots.
Without being able to see his lips move… Max hears Vince say, "a…ajortuliorpoĸ sákutôĸ ituípâ…our sacred ground. Malerssorpâ!"
She can see watery ripples pierce the air. But, with more than twenty popping in and out across the rocks…even Max is having trouble telling where.
Phil makes shooting sounds, as he launches a fishing net from his exoskeleton's arm upon Vince.
Vince screams…as he ends up freezing himself in it in mid-fire.
Some watery ripples run for Vince's body, while more of the watery ripples charge for Phil.
Max high jumps over some incoming watery ripples…which take themselves out.
Loud thuds sound off, over humanoid bent water rippling shapes in the grass.
As she lands back on her feet… A slightly smiling Max gets her fists ready: Keeping her cat like eyes on the watery ripples coming for her.
But, surprisingly… Max is punched down to the ground.
She catches the invisible fist and violently kicks up into the attacker.
It goes down with a thud against another, knocking out two humanoid water rippling shapes.
Max struggles to get back up.
Her forehead is throbbing in pain. Her head is spinning.
Meanwhile… Phil catches some watery ripples in a net, stunning them against the ground.
But, some tackle over his exoskeleton by the legs.
Phil cries out in sharp shooting pain…as he falls back with a violent thud.
The last thing he sees is a watery ripple…with a invisible fist punching him out.
Max calls out angrily, "I don't know who you are. Now you're just pissing me off!"
She pulls out her crossbow, firing a cable right for a watery ripple.
Then…a eerily cheerful girlish voice says, "ooh. What's this?"
Max just looks incredulous: Even as she drops the crossbow to instinctively hurl flips over some watery ripples from behind her.
Another punches her in the side.
And, as she's violently coughing up some dark red liquid… She realizes, "oh…my god. You're all drunk out of your whack heads, and you're still kicking my ass?!"
In her heated crying out… The dizziness becomes too much to take.
She passes out: As several watery ripples close in on her.
A hour or so later…
Max and Phil come to…finding themselves tied up in cables in the attic of Vince's solid red house. They're in dimly lit light, hanging from the high wood ceiling.
A computer screen is down there: With some mostly gold blue lettered TiMeal Coh burger wrappers around it, plenty of files of off the books dealings that Max's cat like eyes can clearly see, and shipments of alcohol across the Atlantic going back to accounts in TiMeal Coh and a Mr. Rockburst.
She groans uneasily, "I… I never thought I'd find myself saying this. But, this is a lot worse than clique. Being held up for the villain to come rant about his evil plan, when I can see straight through it? That's just bent."
Phil comments nervously, "I didn't expect to lose sight of destiny."
Rolling her eyes… Max moderately sighs, "come on, Phil. We can't just let this bitch kick our asses: Not when there's saving the world from rock band rejects and super-powered drunks."
Phil mutters, "yeah well, it's not that." Max just says, "okay. Then…what?"
Phil deeply sighs.
After some awkward silence… He thinks out loud, "you know how much I talk about superheroes?" Max faintly chuckles, "yeah. How I know."
Solemnly, Phil admits, "well… After my sister died… Sniffle. It kept me going. Before that day, I didn't even talk much on Professor X or aliens. As a kid, I was more quiet and shy. Then, when the Pulse hit… I began worrying more: About everything."
Max faintly smiles reflectively, "so playing superhero got you to not be so down."
Teary eyed, Phil nods, "yeah. But…sometimes it still does. Not everyone gets a good ending. And, the more I was out of the business… I felt I wasn't there for more people. I was there for my mom. But, I couldn't stop worrying. It was going to be six months. I knew Eyes Only was out there, being heroes. But…I just couldn't do it. I left for destiny again. But, I think she understood."
Teary eyed herself, Max highlights, "wow. So, that's why you've been going into your darkroom a lot. I knew you were on a mission. I just didn't know how much of a honest man you are."
With a awkward smile, Phil says, "well, ordinarily…I keep more to myself. Faint chuckle. You're right. I'm out of practice. I'm just being down on myself. But, you're a superhero that makes your own destiny. How can I not be more open telling you what I've been thinking about my destiny?"
Max grins at that.
Shortly after though…she realizes where they still are.
She points out, "still… Maybe we should hold off on the after party until we get through this bitch." Phil figures awkwardly, "right. Good call."
Then… They hear footsteps.
Vince comes in with his freeze ray staff: Still shivering quite a bit.
Nine faint and kind of slow watery ripples gather round: Probably in hangovers.
With his staff raised high… Vince declares, "I, the shaman of the Snaktore clan, call upon my clan to send these ajortuliorpoĸ Tuurngaq to the land from which they came: The ice sheet of Hell."
With a roll of her eyes, Max adds sarcastically, "yeah. Because that's how that really works." Vince mutters nervously, "shut up, kakker."
Phil pinpoints, "you don't even know much Shaman rituals: You're just playing at Shaman for corporate evil." Vince practically screams, "shut up!"
Some watery ripples begin to cower in fear. Some of them start murmuring in stirred uncertainty.
In a watery glare… A watery ripple challenges, "a real shaman would not provoke the spirits."
Vince calls out desperately, "shut up! I'm the shaman, and our bickering provokes the spirits!"
Max figures, "the truth is a real bitch, isn't it?"
The watery spirit that challenged him punches out Vince…leaving him unconscious on the floor with his staff and a nasty purplish bruise.
One of them mumbles, "but…slight giggle…it's magic. We don't have to explain…" Another watery ripple shouts back, "shut up!"
Phil nervously says, "I don't think you should have done that."
Ignoring him… Max says to the watery ripple spirits, "sorry. The explosion wasn't some ritual thing: It was a experiment to turn you into living weapons under TiMeal Coh for cash. A specially blended alcohol keeps you chemically more watery. And, it's worked too good. Everyone thought you were dead, and you thought grease boy was your Shaman. With all the smoke and bones… I take it being on this island was training for the real thing, and the deal was going to go down this week."
Some of the watery ripples check the computer.
Phil realizes, "ohh." Teary eyed, Max adds, "yeah."
With dripping tears… A fifth watery ripple realizes, "she's right. Now what do we do?"
Phil suggests, "how about getting us down first?"
Not long after… Phil and Max are down: Thanks to a human pile of invisible watery people untying them and lowering them down to the floor.
Max solemnly says, "thanks." She then says to Phil, "come on."
As they're both walking for the door… A stunned Phil argues, "but…we can't just leave them."
Turning back to him… Max says upfront, "I know. They just found out they're not dead. Give them time to get over it some. However, if we don't hear from them soon… Eyes Only can send in agent Charim to see how they are holding up. Maybe they'll even let Greenland help them come back."
Phil figures, "good idea." Max adds with a slight smile, "thanks."
They get out to the back of the house.
They find Phil's exoskeleton under green tarp: Shiny, undamaged, and with a price tag on.
Max tears off the tag. But, she's a little amused by it: Even pocketing it without tearing it up.
With a faint smile, Phil concludes, "you know…maybe I should head back with you. Really start to get back in the business." Max adds, "I wouldn't mind."
Phil starts to get into the harness of the exoskeleton.
He suggests, "some milk and cookies would sound good right now."
With a slight smile, Max says, "same here."
Two days later…
There's a knock on Max's bedroom fiberglass screen.
In her mostly blue army jacket over black… Max calls back, "yeah?"
A kind of nervous Agssile comes in: Holding a white CD in a plastic case with Max's Ride around Greenland on it in black marker.
Max asks, "what is it?"
Agssile figures, "when we wondered if you could write up a film for the digital archive… Faint chuckle. Well, I liked it. My friends liked it. But, I'm not sure most Greenlanders are going to like it."
Max lightly says, "that's sweet. But, let me break it down for you. If it gets struck down, I'll just make bootlegs. Okay?"
Agssile chuckles at that.
He says, "okay, Max. Thanks." Max adds, "sure."
He closes the fiberglass behind him.
A month or so later, up at Logan's apartment…
Max's Ride around Greenland is on Logan's main monitor.
It's a short film of Max in a blackberry colored waitress uniform, lip syncing to the song Milkshake by Kelis in a ice sheet carved out diner. Silver laser shooting robots running on milkshakes are there fighting over her, until she takes them all out.
In a dark blue long sleeved shirt… Logan questions, "and this is not sexually suggestive how?"
In her silvery blue top… Max just chuckles, "so? I like milk. Not a big dealio."
She heads out for the door before Logan can get another word in.
Logan just slightly chuckles: Knowing that sometimes there's just no stopping her when she's made up her mind.