Max had been looking forward to this day all week. He tromped down the steps of the mansion, humming cheerfully to himself, his small knapsack full of the special items he'd picked up the day before. He was so busy thinking about what was to come, he almost crashed into Adrian as he entered the foyer.
"Well, you're awfully bouncy this morning," Adrian commented with a grin, ruffling his hair as Max jumped sideways to avoid the collision. He'd been doing this ever since Max was ten, which was when they had first been able to be in the same room together without any fear of Max accidentally stealing Adrian's powers. The gesture was admittedly perhaps a little strange now that Max was fourteen, but he didn't mind. He had missed out on ten years of physical contact with his older brother; he wasn't going to complain about making up for it now. "Big investigation today?" Adrian knew how much pride Max took in his job as an investigator for the Renegades, despite the fact that the cases taken on by his team tended to be small and insignificant.
Max shook his head and made his way toward the front door. "Just a day out in the city," he explained.
"Yeah? Heading out by yourself or with Sterling and Jade?"
"With… another friend," Max hedged, hoping Adrian wouldn't ask who. He knew Adrian didn't hold the same hard feelings for Maggie as Nova did, but he also figured that Adrian might tease him about it being a date, which it definitely wasn't. Maggie had just seemed baffled by the idea of doing something for fun, and Max had wanted to give her a fun experience. He just hoped she would like what he had planned.
Fortunately, Adrian didn't pry, just furrowed his brow slightly as Max opened the door and stepped outside. "Be careful," he warned. "The Flamethrower's still out there somewhere. Any sign of him, give HQ a call right away."
"I know," Max couldn't help letting his exasperation show through. What did Adrian expect him to do, take on the city's newest villain by himself? He'd seen first-hand the destruction Flamethrower could cause; he wasn't stupid. "I'll see you later."
It was a three-and-a-half-mile walk, characterized first by the stately oaks and enormous mansions of Max's neighborhood, then by a decrease of vegetation and a higher concentration of buildings the further he ventured into the city. Max smiled to himself, thinking about how long this walk would have seemed to him back when he'd first moved into the Mayor's Mansion. He'd never had a hard time finding his way around the city—after all, he'd spent the last several years of his isolation building a scale model of the entire city out of glass pieces fashioned by Adrian, and he'd always made an effort to keep his model as true-to-life as possible. What had surprised him was how long it took to get from one place to another. Being confined to three rooms all his life hadn't exactly given him a great perception of the relationship between distance and time.
These days, the walk didn't seem particularly long, although Max still found himself getting impatient as he crossed into the downtown district. Finally, he turned onto Mission Street, and, after checking the time on his communication band and discovering he was nearly fifteen minutes early, slowed down his pace. Even from a distance, he could see the caution tape that still encompassed the area outside Heroes' Heroes, warning pedestrians to stay away from the glassless windows and the hollowed-out shell that had once been the sandwich shop. The shop to the left of Heroes' Heroes was closed as well, as it had sustained some damage to its electrical and plumbing systems. Max wondered why no one had stepped up and offered to fix it yet.
As he drew closer, he glanced toward Gadgety Solutions, debating whether to stop in briefly and say hi to Cyanide. He had grown to like the former villain over the past three years, and always enjoyed checking up on whatever new concoction he was working on. Checking the time again, he decided against it.
Max continued past the shop and turned onto Chestnut Street, then continued onto Beltway Avenue. To his surprise, Maggie was already there, waiting outside Superburger with her arms folded across her chest, discomfort written all over her face. Evidently she hadn't noticed him yet; she was glancing around from side to side as if considering whether to bolt. Max, still several yards away, raised his hand in a wave and called out, "Maggie!"
Maggie swung her head in his direction, her expression indeterminable as she locked eyes with him. Was she looking forward to their adventure? Or was she second-guessing the whole thing?
He sped up to a jog, crossing the street and reaching her within seconds. "How's it going?" he greeted her.
Maggie gave him a startled look. "How's what going?"
Max shrugged, a little awkwardly. "You know… things? Life?"
"Oh." Maggie's posture subtly relaxed. "It's fine."
"That's good." Max shifted from one foot to the other. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah." Maggie pushed off from the wall she'd been leaning against and took a few steps, then turned around, realizing he hadn't moved. "Wait—where exactly are we going?"
Max couldn't help smiling. "A couple blocks down that-a-way." He pointed down the road. "I forgot to ask—are you afraid of heights?"
"No."
"Good." He started leading her back the way he'd come, though they were on the opposite side of the street now. They both slowed down as they approached the yellow caution tape that encroached onto the sidewalk in front of Heroes' Heroes. "Did you hear about what happened?" Max asked, gesturing to the destroyed store.
Maggie nodded, her face taking on a sour look. "I heard some guy tried to burn it down."
Max nodded. "Not just any guy. A new self-proclaimed villain. He said he did it to try to show people that some powers are stronger than others."
"I can't say I'm surprised," Maggie said frankly. "You really didn't think that would happen sooner or later?"
"I don't know…" To be honest, Max hadn't really thought about it. Obviously every power was different, and yes, there were those that had more flamboyance and "wow" factor than others—the kinds that had always gotten the biggest cheers from the crowd during the Renegade trials that had served for four years as the deciding factor as to whether a prodigy could join the Renegades. But there were plenty of less-ostentatious powers that could be every bit as useful as the more "powerful" gifts, and really, the effectiveness of a superhero's powers depended a lot more on the motives and decisions of the person using them than on the powers themselves. He shrugged. "We've got an investigative team on him. Not mine, unfortunately." He scowled. He'd told his dads that since he had actually been at the scene of the crime, it would make the most sense to put his team on investigative duty. But they had been adamant about assigning such a major case to a more "experienced" team.
"You're an investigator?" Maggie asked.
"Yep. Been one for about three years." There had been a lot of re-organization after the Supernova, with new laws being put into effect regarding voting, trials before sentencing, and vigilantism, and the Renegades organization had undergone some major changes in the way it was structured and run. But once the Council had mostly gotten the new system up and running, they'd opened their doors to new recruits and formed several new units.
"What do you investigate?" Maggie wanted to know.
"Small crimes, mostly. If a place gets burgled in the middle of the night, and no one saw who did it, that kind of thing. Nothing too exciting, but," he shrugged. "I still like it."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Maggie's hand drift almost subconsciously to her pocket. Remembering what Nova had said about Maggie's childhood habits, Max wondered if Maggie was worried that Max might someday be investigating her.
He didn't want to confront her about her possible stealing. He knew that if she was still doing it, it was only to survive. He wished he could just give her what she needed, but judging by her reaction when he'd tried to pay for her lunch the other day, he knew she wouldn't respond well to that.
"You could come back and work for us too, you know," he told her as they continued past the burnt-out building. "If you're interested, of course. I don't know—why did you leave before?"
"Ready for bigger and better things," she replied. He waited but she didn't elaborate. He was quite curious about how making a living by stealing things and trading them in at a pawn shop qualified as "bigger and better things", but he couldn't think of a way to ask her without sounding insulting.
They walked in silence until they reached the end of the street, then turned right. It was only a short walk before they reached Max's destination.
"An… old, abandoned skyscraper?" Maggie questioned, sounding skeptical.
"Just wait," Max promised. He pulled open the door, which emitted a loud creaking sound, and held it open for Maggie. She gave him another dubious look as she walked past him and into the building.
Franklin Tower had once been an office building, but its north side had been reduced to rubble during the Age of Anarchy. Its south side, where Max and Maggie stood now, had withstood the test of time, but hadn't been touched much in the past dozen years. During the initial phase of rebuilding, Max had heard, the Council hadn't been sure whether to try to renovate the building or just tear it down, and the result had been that absolutely nothing had been done to it.
"We'll have to take the stairs," Max said apologetically, taking the lead and walking over to the door that led to the stairwell. "I'm afraid the elevator's been out of commission for a while."
Maggie's jaw went slack. "We're going up?"
Max could completely understand her hesitation—if she had ever gotten a good look at the north side of the building from the outside, she was undoubtedly envisioning the collapsed scaffolding and the sections where the outer wall was completely missing. Max still wasn't sure what exactly had possessed him to climb the stairs of this particular building two years ago, unless it was simply his eagerness to explore every part of the city he could.
And, well, maybe he'd noticed that the ledge on the twelfth floor would provide a perfect view into a very interesting room of the building next door.
"I know it doesn't look safe," he admitted. "And the place where we're going honestly looks even worse. But I think you'll like it."
"I'll be the judge of that," muttered Maggie. But he could sense a hint of intrigue as she followed him into the stairwell.
Max expected more hesitation from Maggie when he pulled a flashlight out of his backpack, explaining that since the building had no power, the stairwell, which had no windows, would be all dark. To his surprise, she spread her arms dramatically and intoned, "Climbing up a pitch-black staircase in a creepy abandoned building, nothing at all weird about that."
He laughed at the unexpected humor, and entered the stairwell, Maggie at his heels.
It didn't take long before they were both panting. "Are we going—all the way to the top?" Maggie asked, clearly dreading the answer.
"No." Max clutched the railing as he turned his head to look at her, struggling to catch his breath. Her face was flushed and sweaty, a strand of hair plastered to her cheek. Max resisted the bizarre impulse he suddenly had to brush it away. "Just to the twelfth floor."
"The twelfth floor?" Maggie shot him a pained look. "This better be worth it. What floor are we on now?"
"Honestly, I've lost count," Max confessed sheepishly. "But we can hang out here for a couple minutes if you want. Catch our breaths a little."
Maggie seemed to consider the suggestion for a moment, but then she shook her head and continued past him up the stairs. Max followed, still breathing heavily.