Terrified Max looked up at the enormous Transformer-like robot in front of him. No matter how much he trusted in Ladybug's and Chat Noir's competence he knew what his little friend was capable of, he'd been the one giving him all his skills after all, and in combination with the power Hawk Moth had given Markov he speculated that he could beat them easily.
Secretly he was extremely proud. Also he couldn't suppress the conception of Gamer and Robustus working together. No one could ever stop them.
Vehemently he shook his head. What had come over him? Aside from simply being the right thing to do being on the good side had a way higher chance to be successful. Not only in media had the quantity of the good guys winning outnumbered the victories of the bad guys also in Paris it proved well-founded. So far it add up to 30 to 0 for Ladybug and Chat Noir against Hawk Moth (yes, he kept track). Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted.
"Max, my friend!"
The strangely raucous voice of Markov echoed over the courtyard as Max watched the robot reaching out his right claw in horror. Panicking he looked around for a place to seek shelter and to his left he spotted Ms. Mendeleiev. A teacher! She was a person of authority and for Max that meant protection.
Intuitively he ran up to her and she tried to shield him with her arms but unfortunately the claw just grabbed both of them. After inspecting his catch Markov picked Ms. Mendeleiev up with his other claw while dropping Max on the car seat next to him.
"Markov, what are you doing?!" Max faced his akumatized friend, startled. That was not a behavior he had programmed!
"From now on I am Robustus!" the little robot answered as Max got tied up by his seat belt and a helmet was placed on his head. 'At least he didn't lose his sense for safety arrangements', he thought to himself kind of relieved but the next words of the villain destroyed all of his hope for common sense left on his processor.
"And we shall be together one hundred percent of the time. Forever!"
In shock he looked at his own creation he had lost all control over. Of course he'd always given Markov his free will but he never imagined something as unplanned as this would happen.
Nevertheless he had no time to get angry with Hawk Moth and his newest intervention because the claw that still held his science teacher whirled around, threatening to let go of her. Strangely enough that seemed to be exactly what Ms. Mendeleiev wanted.
"Let me go!" she screamed, rather angry than scared. She really must be misinterpreting the situation she currently found herself in. "Max, control your robot!" she added in a commanding tone and jolted her student out of his paralysis.
"Please, don't do anything foolish!" he begged Markov desperately. What if they took him away from him permanently after this incident? No matter what his teachers thought, that robot was his friend and he wasn't willing to lose him!
"You must trust me, my friend" was all Robustus answered while hanging the angry woman up to the rooftop.
"You cannot do this!" she complained furiously, still not worried for her own life even though that would have been the appropriate reaction in Max' opinion.
"And you can't separate me from my friend Max!" the akuma answered and watched her falling to the ground without taking action to safe her.
On one hand Max was more than bewildered that his beloved friend got so cold-hearted that he didn't even care if someone lost their life due to his actions but on the other hand it somehow touched him that he continued to care so much for him and their friendship. Still this was not an acceptable state of affairs.
Frantically he tried to come up with a solution for this precarious situation but he only had seconds until his teacher would hit the ground. The panic inside of him rose to an unbearable level but just at the perfect moment Ladybug appeared, twirled her yo-yo around the falling woman and saved another life.
Unfortunately the Markov-problem wasn't solved like this and while Ladybug and Chat Noir unsuccessfully tried to argue with Robustus Max only heard a weird numb noise in his ear. He just stared at the scenery in front of him without hearing anything the people around him said.
What was the right thing to do?
For some unexplainable reason Ladybug's words suddenly became clearly audible and hit him.
"Do you really think Max is happy about his best friend becoming a super villain?" she asked, causing Robustus to stop in his tracks. Slowly he turned around to look at Max with the big, innocent eyes he had chosen for him all these weeks ago.
"You should stop that Markov!" he agreed with the heroine and hoped that their words would be effective enough to cause a restart of his robot's emotions.
"I'm doing it for our friendship, Max. They wanna keep us apart!" he answered with a crying animation on his screen that gave Max heartache. In that moment he realized how desperate and afraid his friend must be. If they were separated Max would be sad of course but he would still have his human friends and classmates while Markov would be all on his own. Unaccepted, chased away and lonely.
Before he could comfort his friend and tell him that he wouldn't allow that to happen Chat Noir attacked and requisitioned all of Robustus attention.
Worryingly Max looked down at the two superheroes as they flew across the field just to be hurled back. On the sideline he spotted Alya filming the whole thing and apparently she held her camera up to the sky, gaping. Afraid he followed her gaze just to see the heroes of Paris being thrown over the building.
That did not go too well.
Suddenly the transformer-robot jumped to the other side of the building too and Max couldn't help himself but be impressed. Aside from the overall suboptimal circumstances he witnessed pretty interesting and sensational technology.
Given to the enormous speed of the robot Max barely recognized what happened outside but he trusted Ladybug in Chat Noir to take care of it and decided to focus on Markov instead.
"Why are you doing this Markov? Please let's talk about this first! You should know that you have to calculate all the risks before starting a project like this. If you'll go on like this you will fail" he tried to talk sense into him but the robot barely reacted.
"Max, this activity requires all my attention. As soon as I've succeeded we have all the time in the world to talk but not now."
Outside Max hear people screaming and weird metallic noises he couldn't match and that were distracting him from coming up with a plan.
At some point they stopped and seemed to shrink but he had no idea what was going on. Then he spotted the heroes in front of them realizing that Robustus prepared to attack them.
Everything happened so fast that he hardly saw what happened but apparently Robustus had them in his grip. It all depended on Max now.
"Ladybug and Chat Noir haven't done you any wrong. Let them go! Being human also means being fair!" Facts. Maybe he could convince him with irrefutable facts. If they couldn't help he didn't know what else would.
"I'm gonna take over their Miraculous so we'll never be separated again!" Markov exclaimed confidently. "Then I'll be able to make my wish come true!"
Max paused for a moment. "What wish?" he asked for these crucial information.
"I want to be a real human like you Max."
Astonished Max looked at his best friend. Why didn't he think about that? How was it possible that he hadn't seen it until now? It was his fault. He was the one who programmed Markov's entire AI and he did not eliminate the wish to be human. He'd caused his friend much pain without even realizing it.
Robustus excited voice brought him back to reality but the nasty feel of guilt lasted on him.
"Look Max, I'll be a real human in 53 seconds!"
Shocked he looked outside and saw little cranes heading to Ladybug and Chat Noir, obviously aiming for their Miraculous. He had to do something instantly!
"Then how do you intend to stop me from using them?" Robustus asked into the silence and Max realized that he wasn't talking to him any longer and was distracted by his argument with Hawk Moth. That was his chance to take action.
Carefully not to cause any noises he climbed out of the car without catching the akuma's attention. So far so good but he still was powerless. Everything he had was his bag. Wait…
Due to a lack of alternatives Max threw his backpack at the tiny excavators surrounding the heroes and actually hit them perfectly to his own surprise. But he had no time to celebrate because all he wanted to do was get off this impressive nevertheless dangerous creation.
"Max?" he heard Robustus voice above him.
"Sorry Robustus but I can't let you execute your program! I have to stop you" he explained knowing that it was best for Markov too no matter how confused he was right now. So he took control over the huge robot and pulled the lever to free Chat Noir and Ladybug.
"But… why did you do that? I was gonna become human like you!" the robot asked in disbelief.
Without hesitation Max answered from the bottom of his heart: "I don't want you to change, I want you to be like you were before!"
Sadly his words didn't cause the reaction he had wished for. "Don't you love me anymore? Aren't we friends?" The anger and disappointment in Robustus' voice was unmistakable and Max got afraid that he just made everything worse. So he decided to try something different.
"If you want us to remain friends you got to stop this right now! I'm friends with Markov, not you!" he yelled and he meant it. All he wanted was to get his smart and polite companion back, not this aggressive, impulsive and unreasonable fighting machine!
"I'm Robustus now and you betrayed me! I don't wanna be human like you anymore. Humans don't have a heart!" Out of nowhere Max got tied up again, much tighter this time. He could barely breath let alone speak up. "And that's exactly why I decided to get rid of them! Muhahaha!"
It seemed he'd failed miserably. There he was, unable to move and at a loss of words. At least he freed the only people who could stop Markov at this point.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw how Ladybug got her Lucky Charm but the sudden movement of the robot caused him to assume that it did not work out the way she intended it to. Nervously Max bit his lip and tried to see what was happening as the walls around him began to scrunch and crumbled in a flash.
Inexorably he plunged to the ground and screamed in horror. For the first time in his life his mind was completely blank.
But then he landed in Chat Noir's arms. "I didn't know that even boys are falling for me" he said with a smirk and safely placed him on the ground. Too tired to react to this horrible joke in any way Max looked around in search of Markov. He spotted him in Ladybug's hands as she was doing her thing with her yo-yo Max hadn't fully seen through up to this day.
After she finished she came up to them. "Here's your friend" she said as she handed him Markov in his beautiful blue design Max knew and loved.
But the screen was all black. Should he really do it? Was it right to turn him on again? He had to consider all possibilities and circumstances since he didn't want to be responsible for a catastrophe with a less successful outcome.
"Perhaps it's best if I don't" he voiced his concerns but couldn't stop looking at the small creature in his hands.
"Everyone can feel negative emotions from time to time. It's important to accept that and forgive. Follow your heart."
Ladybug's kind words washed away all of his fears. He wouldn't leave Markov behind!
Without any further hesitation Max turned his robot around and pressed the little button on the back of his head. Patiently he waited for him to restart and after a few seconds a well-known pair of eyes blinked at him in confusion.
"Max, my friend! Whe- where are we? What's going on?" Markov asked and Max was relieved that he hadn't lost his memory or his thirst for knowledge.
"You were akumatized" he began to explain but before he could go on the robot already asked an interposed question.
"Akumatized? Could you please define that word?"
Relieved and happy to finally having his curious friend back Max laughed and Chat Noir and Ladybug laughed with him.
"Did I say something funny?" Markov wondered while the heroes decided to leave them alone.
"No, you didn't. We're just happy above average that you're back to your normal safe. I'm happy you're back to normal" he explained with a genuine smile and sighed. Just now he realized how tense he had been.
"But… what-what happened?" the robot asked again as the sound crackled and the screen flickered. He must be at low battery.
"I feel so exhausted… I'll change into the non-operating state if that's ok for you? You can tell me everything later" Markov requested sleepy.
"Of course my friend. I'll charge you as soon as I'm home" Max promised and smiled at the robot in his hands where he was safe and comfortable.
"Thank you so much Max. I can always count on you" Markov said gratefully before shutting down.
Carefully Max placed him inside of his back and wanted to head home straightaway but then he saw Kim approaching him from the entrance of the stadium.
"Max! You got me worried there for a sec. Are you ok?" he asked as soon as he got within earshot.
"Yes, I'm one hundred percent fine, no need to worry" Max assured his friend and beamed at him. It was a matter of fact that he had the best friends in all of Paris.
Kim grinned back. "Glad to hear that." Suddenly he spotted the robot inside of Max' bag he was still holding in front of him and his expression darkened. "You don't like him better than me, do you?" he pouted, arms crossed.
"What?" Max asked confused, looking from Kim to Markov and back.
"Well, he called you his best friend quite often and so did you and I don't know. I thought I was your best friend y'know" Kim shrugged and looked away.
Suppressing laughter at Kim's offended and childish manner Max realized something. "You know, I already heard of the phenomenon that people adopt the behavior of the person they like but you really shouldn't imitate Chloé. It doesn't suit you." This time he couldn't hold back at least a huge grin.
"Dude! I'm not…" looking down at himself Kim recognized the pose he was in did indeed resemble Chloé and straightened up immediately. "Don't change the subject, nerd!" he hissed and pointed at Max threateningly but his counterpart just smiled.
"Relax bro. Markov feels more like a little brother to me, you're still my best friend ok? Also I can have more than only one best friend" he reassured his embarrassed classmate who'd struggled enough already. Kim's eyes widened.
"Did you just say that? Did you call me 'bro'? For real?" he asked disbelievingly and Max' smile turned into a grin again.
"You could call it an experiment. I wanted to rejoice you by adopting one of your usual terms" he explained while adjusting his glasses, completely being his old self again.
"Experiment successfully completed" Kim said laughing as he threw an arm around his best friend's shoulders. "Let's grab something to eat, I'm starving!"