Ch 22

Batman and Max walked up to Gotham Police station and came inside to see the commissioner waiting for them.

"Are you sure she should be here?" asked the commissioner.

"You know Max. Once she's got her mind on something—

"There's no stopping me," smirked Max.

"I don't usually allow this but if it will help with the investigation, I'm willing to give it a shot."

"Thanks Barbara," said Max as she lead her and Batman to his cell.

The guard unlocked the cell door, letting Batman and Max inside. The guard was standing just outside the cell along with the commissioner as James looked up to see he had guests in his cell.

"Now Maxine do we really need him here to talk?" asked James as he looked at Batman.

"Oh, he's here to make sure I don't kill you," said Max.

"So, what brings you by?"

"What were you doing with a time machine?"

"Always too smart for your own good. Anyway it doesn't matter. I'm caught. Whatever plans I had, they're over," he said as he looked Max over, something Batman didn't miss. "You're not the girl I fell in love with anymore Maxine."

"You're right. I'm the woman you can't break."

"Are you so sure about that?" asked James as the lights went out suddenly.

Batman grabbed a hold of Max. "What's going on?" she asked.

Batman looked outside the cell to see the guard and the commissioner unconscious. "Hold onto me and don't let go Max, you here me?"

Max held onto Batman. "I hear you Batman. So, can you see a way out?"

Batman saw the keys outside the cell, attached to the guard's belt. "Just go along with my movements and listen for any movements that are not your own."

"Right," she said as she let Batman guide her to the cell bars. When she felt Batman bend down, she went with him as he picked up the keys.

Batman turned around to see James coming towards him. Kicking him in the stomach, James went down as Batman led Max to the cell bars, opened the cell, walked them out, and locked the door. Before they could go any further, two menacing men attacked Batman, causing Max to fall away from his grip. She felt someone grip her arms and looked up to see another man and watched as someone else let out James. An unconscious Batman came to her sites, and she struggled to get out of the man's grip. "BATMAN!" she screamed as they took her away.

Max was held by two men as they entered a room. That's when the lights came back on, and Max could see the time machine for herself with James at the controls, which worried her. "Wh—what are you planning?"

"You'll soon find out Maxine," he said as the machine came alive."

"You know whatever your planning, you still won't get what you want."

James laughed. "I always get what I want Maxine, and I'll get it by any means necessary."

Max's eyes widened. "You're crazy, and you never learn. Like you said I'm not the same girl I was at 14 years old."

"Oh I can make you that way again. Sure it will take some time but when you love someone—

"You don't love me. You want to own and control me, and I refuse to no matter what you do to me."

"I'm sure you will feel differently after what I have planned for you."

The machine created a white light portal as James went to the controls to set up what he wanted.

"Where are you planning to take me?"

"It's a surprise of course, but I can tell it will be a place where you and I can be together forever."

"Sounds pretty horrible to me," said Max as she tried to get out of the arms of the men who brought her here.

"It's no use Maxine. You might as well not fight anymore. It will prepare you for our life together."

"I'm not giving up. I don't care what you do to me because I will make you pay for this, and I will get back to my time."

"Oh Maxine you're never coming back to this time. You'll never see the ones you love and care for ever again."

"Why, why are you doing this to me?" cried Max. "Slaggit! I deserve to know."

"The tough girl act is not you Maxine. We both know that. Somewhere new you can be your true self without any walls up. You can be the girl I fell in love with, and we can be happy together."

"You really are delusional, aren't you? You really think things can go back to the way they were, but they were never happy times for me. The love and care I had for you disappeared the first time you hit me."

"Bring her to me," James ordered as the two men brought the struggling Max towards the portal, pushing her inside. James turned to the men. "Destroy the machine once we go through."

"MAX!" Batman yelled as he found the machine destroyed before his very eyes.