It was strange.
That was the only word Max could think of after she took the photo of the butterfly. She could feel a sensation course through her body.
It wasn't good, it wasn't bad, it was just...strange.
She watched the butterfly flutter away as she got over the sensation.
"It won't do for the 'Everyday Heroes' Contest, but it's one for the portfolio." Max thought to herself.
She suddenly heard the bathroom door open and peeked her head over.
It was Nathan Prescott of the renowned Prescott family and your typical spoiled rich kid. "The male clone" of Victoria Chase as Max liked to call him, and the less said about Victoria Chase, the better.
At the current moment, he was pacing around the sinks in a panicked state. Beads of sweat rolled down his face and his eyes shook.
"It's cool Nathan. Don't stress. Just count to three." Nathan muttered to himself, voice filled with anxiety. "Don't be scared. You own this school!"
It was then a girl entered the bathroom. She had dyed-blue hair with a blue beanie on top, a black leather jacket over a white shirt, ripped jeans, rockstar boots, and a tattoo on her arm. The most distinct feature Max caught though was the necklace that had three bullets attached to it as it hung around her neck.
Max wasn't sure why, but the girl seemed familiar to her.
"So...what do you want?" Nathan asked with annoyance.
"I hope you checked the perimeter as my step-ass would say." The girl said as she checked the stalls, not finding anyone there.
"That voice..." Max thought as her eyes widen in recognition.
That's why the girl seemed familiar to her. It was the girl she was best friends with when they were kids. The girl she left behind three days after her dad died.
It was Chloe. Her Chloe.
"I got nothing for you." Nathan said blankly, snapping Max out of her thoughts.
"Wrong! You got Hella cash!" Chloe said angrily, using the same vocabulary she did when they were kids.
Max wasn't sure what was going on, but she could see things were starting to get intense, especially when Chloe started to threaten Nathan with blackmail. She started to wonder if she should get involved.
She got her answer when Nathan suddenly pulled out a gun.
"You don't know who the fuck I am! Or who you're messing around with!" Nathan said angrily as he pointed the gun at Chloe, making Max's eyes widen with shock and fear.
"Where the Hell did you get that?! Come on, put that thing down!" Chloe said as she raised her hands up in fear, her snark starting to fade away.
"Don't you EVER tell me what to do! I'm so SICK of people trying to control me!" Nathan said with fury as he pushed Chloe into a wall.
Max couldn't take it anymore, she had to stop this!
"Nathan, stop!" She shouted as she made herself known to them.
"What the?!" Nathan said with furious surprise as he was now putting the gun at Max.
"M-Max?!" Chloe said in shock, seeing her old friend for the first time in five years.
"You two in on this together?! Think you could pull a fast one over me?!" Nathan asked with paranoia as he waved his gun back and forth between the two of them.
"Nathan, please, just calm down. I know you don't want to hurt anyone." Max told him softly, not wanting to escalate the situation.
"You don't know a damn thing about me! You have NO IDEA what I'm capable of!" Nathan said as he aimed the gun back at her, eyes filled with fury.
"Get away from her!" Chloe said as she tackled Nathan.
And because of that, the gun went off.
Max had expected it to hurt, but she felt no pain at all.
...In fact, she didn't feel anything, not even the impact of the bullet.
But the gun was aiming right at her torso, she saw it herself. Blanks maybe?
Max couldn't really ponder on it too much as she saw Chloe continue to struggle with Nathan for the gun.
"Focus, Max!" She told herself as she rushed down to them and pulled Chloe off Nathan. "Chloe, come on!" She said quickly as they rushed out of the bathroom.
"I'm not done with either of you!" Nathan yelled after them, but deciding not to chase them as he didn't want to be caught with a gun on hand.
They went around the corner into a secluded area and caught their breaths. Good thing the school day already ended otherwise there would be a mass horde of students panicking right now.
"Holy shit! That was close!" Chloe said with a gasp for air before looking at Max with concern. "Are you okay Max!? Did he hit you!?" She asked with panic as she looked her over.
"No, I'm okay." Max told her, catching her own breath.
"Good thing that asshole just had blanks in that thing." Chloe said with relief.
"…Is that really you Chloe?" Max couldn't help but ask, staring into the blue eyes she found herself getting lost in when they were kids.
Chloe couldn't help but laugh. "The same Chloe Price from five years ago. Talk about a way to reunite, Maxine Caulfield." She said jokingly.
"Max, never Maxine." Max reminded her with a smile.
"Of course, still the same after all this time." Chloe said nostalgically with her own smile.
"Principal Wells! You heard that right?!" An angry voice that Max recognized as David Madsen, the security guard of Blackwell Academy.
"Calm down, Mr. Madsen." Raymond Wells, the Principal of Blackwell said calmly.
"Calm down!? A gun just fired inside the school!" David said incredulously.
"We don't know that. It could have just been a lightbulb that burst." Wells reasoned.
"I've been in the army, Raymond! I know what a gunshot sounds like!" David argued.
"Shit! Step-douche." Chloe whispered with small panic, surprising Max.
"David's your step-father?" Max asked with surprise.
"Max, listen. He cannot know I was here. I'm not even supposed to be on Blackwell property. Can you please just keep this to yourself?" Chloe asked her.
"What? But Chloe, Nathan pointed a gun at you. What if those had been actual bullets?" Max asked with concern.
"I know, I know. Go ahead and rat on Nathan, but if they ask, please don't bring me into the conversation. I promise, I'll explain everything later." Chloe pleaded with her.
Every instinct in Max's body told her it was a bad idea. But she finally reunited with her best friend after all these years and she didn't want to ruin it.
"Okay. But you better tell me what's going on." Max said.
"Hella awesome. This is almost a pardon for all the years you decided not to call me." Chloe said with a wink, which Max couldn't help feel a bit guilty about.
Chloe made her way out of the school, just in time as David and Wells found her.
"Hold it right there!" David said with a strict tone.
"W-What's going on?" Max asked softly, trying to play innocent.
"We'll be asking the questions here!" David said angrily.
"Mr. Madsen, that's enough!" Wells reprimanded. "Miss Caulfield, did you happen to see or hear anything just now?" He asked her calmly.
"I-I saw Nathan Prescott leaving from the girl's bathroom just now, I think he had a gun." Max told them, making sure to keep Chloe out of it.
"Son of a Bitch! I knew it! Let's go find that kid right now!" David said determinedly.
"Hold on. What was Nathan doing in the girl's restroom?" David asked.
"I-I don't know, I just saw him leaving from there in a hurry. I could see the handle of the gun from the back of his pants." Max told them.
"And what exactly were you doing at the time?" David asked suspiciously.
"I forgot some of my things in my classroom and went to go get them. When I came back out, I saw him. I'm telling the truth though, I saw Nathan with a gun!" Max told them, still not technically lying.
"This is a serious accusation, Max. Mr. Prescott happens to be part of one Arcadia Bay's most distinguished families and one of Blackwell's most honored students. So it's hard for me to see him brandishing a weapon." Wells said professionally.
"You wouldn't be saying that if the kid's father wasn't such a big donator to the school." David said with annoyance.
"Mr. Madsen, that's enough." Wells said angrily. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention Miss Caulfield, I'll look into the matter personally." He told her.
"That's it? After everything I just told you?" Max asked incrediously.
"Raymond! We gotta put a real investigation on this!" David agreed, surprising Max.
"Go outside and enjoy the rest of the day, Max. We'll discuss this later." Wells told her dismissively. "David, let's go to my office." He said as he gesture to the opposite direction.
"Unbelievable…" Both Max and David thought.
Max turned to leave only for Wells to call out to her.
"By the way, Miss Caulfield. I know students here like to express themselves in their own image, but there is still a dress code that needs to be held up here at Blackwell. So the next time you come to class, make sure your clothes don't have holes in them." Wells told her.
"Holes?" Max asked herself, not understanding. She looked down and saw there was indeed a hole in her shirt. "That…that wasn't there before…"
"Um…right, of course. Sorry about that." Max quietly apologized.
Wells nodded and they went on their way.
When they were no longer in sight, Max looked down at the hole again.
Strangely enough, the hole was In the exact location she thought she got shot. And it only got more strange after that.
When she poked her finger through the hole, she felt something against it, something hard.
She reached under her shirt, pulled it off her torso, and gave it a look it.
It was metallic, bronze-colored, and one end of it was flattened while the other end was cylindered shaped.
If Max didn't know any better, she'd say this was a bullet. A bullet that came from the gun that Nathan shot her with.
…
…
…
…
"…What the fuck?"
Short chapter, I know. But it's an idea I've had in my head for awhile that I wanted to make sure I put down on digital paper. I'm sure as you guessed, Max is dealing with a different set of powers, powers that beyond to a certain caped-crusader. How it'll change the course of events in Arcadia Bay will remain to be seen.
I'm not sure when I'll get to the next chapter as I'm currently working on my Code Geass story: Do Something, Do It Stupid. But I do have an ending in mind, I just need to figure out how to get there.
Until then, comment and tell me what you think!