"Now if you're gonna be a superhero, you're gonna need a kick-ass name! Something with flair and 'UMPH' to it! Nothing cheesy though, this isn't a Saturday morning cartoon." Chloe said excitedly to Max as she drove them to her place.
"Hey, I enjoy my cartoons." Max said with a smirk.
"Of course you do, same old Max." Chloe said, returning the smirk. "How about this, Maximum Overdrive!" She suggested dramatically.
"Isn't that a little too on the nose? I feel like people would connect the dots." Max countered.
"Yeah, you got a point there." Chloe agreed. "How about The Arcadian Warrior!" She suggested.
"Oh, that's really good!" Max said excitedly before giving it her own thought. "What about, The Woman of Tomorrow?"
"Like Supergirl?" Chloe wondered.
"Yeah, I mean super strength, endurability. All signs point to it." Max explained.
"Mmmm. It's pretty good, I think The Arcadian Warrior is better though." Chloe dismissed. "Once you start flying, then we'll talk.
Max couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Deal."
"Speaking of which, have you tried it yet?" Chloe asked with a excited grin.
"I just discovered this today, I haven't exactly made a checklist. And I'm not about jump off a building just to test it!" Max said quickly at the end.
"Not yet anyway!" Chloe said with anticipation.
Max could only groan.
…
They soon arrived at Chloe's home and entered the premises, Max making sure Chloe opened the door as she didn't want a replay of the dorm incident.
"Glad step-douche isn't home yet." Chloe muttered as she headed towards the kitchen.
Max looked around the place, not much had changed besides some furniture. She didn't see a lot of photos of William either.
"Feels like forever since I've been here." Max said quietly.
"It has been forever! My first mate has been away for far too long!" Chloe called from the kitchen.
"Well she's willing to make up the lost time to her captain." Max told her.
"That's exactly what I want to hear." Chloe said with a knowing smile, a knife in her hand.
"Whoa, Chloe! What are you doing?!" Max said, surprised by the weapon in her hand.
"Duh, we're going to test your durability of course!" Chloe said as if it was obvious.
"I told you I was bulletproof, didn't I?" Max asked, incredulously.
"Yeah, but for all we know knifes could be your kryptonite! We gotta go through everything that could possibly hurt you." Chloe reasoned.
"Are you sure you're not just using this as an excuse to get back at me for not calling you all these years?" Max asked tiredly.
"I might…" Chloe said with a cheeky smile. "But come on, tell me you haven't been wanting to experiment with this since you discovered your powers." She beckoned.
Max thought about it, saw the puppy dog eyes that Chloe was making, and sighed in defeat.
"Just my hand first." Max relented as she raised her left palm up.
To which Chloe immediately took a literal stab at it.
Only for the knife to fold within itself.
Chloe looked at it in amazement while Max looked at her in annoyance.
"A little warning next time?" Max asked, irritated.
"That is AMAZEBALLS!" Chloe said excitedly. "Hold on! I'm going to get some of David's tools in the back!" She said as ran back to the garage.
Max should have been annoyed with her tact, but it was nice to see her so happy, which made her happy.
…
*WHACK*
"Anything?"
"Nope."
*WHACK!*
*WHACK!*
"How about now?"
"Nope, can't feel a thing."
"Alright! We can check baseball bat off the list!" Chloe said as she examined the now dented aluminum baseball bat that she used to hit Max's chest with.
"You sure Joyce or David aren't going to wonder what happened to all their stuff?" Max asked cautiously as she looked at the pile of stuff, they used to test her endurability in Chloe's backyard.
So far, they have gone through a hammer, screwdriver, crowbar, a hoe, even hedge-clippers. All now broken or bent out of shape due to Max's invulnerability.
"Nah. Mom barely gardens anymore and I honestly couldn't give a shit about step-douche's stuff." Chloe said dismissively.
"Still surprises me she actually married that guy." Max said, remembering how much of a jerk he is at Blackwell.
"Preaching to the choir." Chloe muttered.
Max's eyes drifted around the backyard they used to have their pirate adventures in. She saw the old swing set that was used to help them find buried treasure, along with the mural they made to commemorate all the memories.
Now it was all a ghost of its former self.
"We sure did have a lot of voyages out here, didn't we?" Max said quietly.
"The best. Captain Bluebeard and Long Max Silver! Fearsome duo of the seven seas!" Chloe said with reminiscence.
"Long Max Silver, now that's a superhero name." Max joked.
"Oh please. You'd be laughed right out of the Avengers Initiative." Chloe joked back.
They laughed at that.
"Hey, remembered when we found that time capsule William made for us." Max asked.
"Oh yeah! Bloody Bill. That was the day he…" Chloe trailed off, bad memories coming in.
"Shit. Nice going Max…" She cursed herself for inadvertently bringing up his death.
"Chloe, I know I have a lot to make up for. But I'm not going anywhere this time. I'm going to stick by you and help you find Rachel, no matter what." Max told her determinedly.
Chloe looked at her in surprise. "Really?"
"Of course. What kind of superhero would I be if I didn't aid a damsel in distress?" Max asked with a smirk.
"Excuse me? I am no damsel, thank you very much!" Chloe said in a mocking snoot-like fashion.
"Pretty sure the lunatic waving the gun in your face would say otherwise." Max said cockily, grin growing even wider.
"Wow! Getting superpowers certainly made someone cocky!" Chloe said, impressed.
"I blame you!" Max said with a laugh.
"But in all seriousness…thank you Max. I really do appreciate it." Chloe said with a kind smile.
They stared at each other for a moment, just basking in each other's view.
"Hello? Chloe?" A voice called out from the house.
"Shit! Mom's home early!" Chloe whispered anxiously. "We got to get this stuff out of here!"
"I thought you didn't care if their stuff got broken!" Max whispered with annoyance.
"I don't but it doesn't mean I want to get in trouble for it!" Chloe said nervously.
"Chloe? Where are you?" Joyce called out again.
Max looked around, wondering where they could possibly hide the broken tools.
There was no place to do so.
Max could only groan tiredly as she grabbed all the stuff and chucked it out of the backyard and few into the sky, which they'll hopefully land in the ocean.
"Oh, we are so signing you up for the Olympics!" Chloe said with an excited grin as she looked at the objects that flew away.
Timing was impeccable, for that was the moment Joyce came out to the backyard.
"Chloe, there you are. Didn't you hear-" Joyce was about to go into lecture mode when she saw the other person standing there. "Max?" She asked with surprise.
"Hey, Joyce." Max said shyly as she awkwardly waved at her.
"Maxine Caulfield! Don't just stand there! Give me some sugar!" Joyce said happily as she went over and gave the hipster a hug.
"Never Maxine, Joyce." Max said as she gladly returned the hug.
"Of course, how could I forget." Joyce said as she brushed her hair. "Look how big you got. I was wondering when we'd see you again. You're staying for dinner, right? I know Chloe's been wanting you back for awhile now." She said with a welcoming tone.
"Moooom!" Chloe said embarrassingly.
"As long as I'm back before Blackwell's curfew, I would love to." Max said with a laugh.
"I suppose you could always fly your way back if needed." Chloe said cheekily.
Max sarcastically laughed at that, annoyed that Chloe was playing so close to the chest.
That was soon forgotten though as she soon felt something fall on her face.
She looked up and saw little snowflakes fall from the sky. Chloe and Joyce were just as surprised.
"What the Hell is this?" Chloe asked with confusion as she looked around.
"Snow? In 80 degree weather?" Joyce wondered, just as confused.
"Climate change maybe?" Chloe theorized.
"Maybe…" Max said quietly as she remembered the dream she had earlier.
"Or maybe a storm is coming…"
To Be Continued…
By popular demand, I have finally written a new chapter!
I want to apologize for taking so long to get another chapter out, as I said in the previous one, my main focus is on Do Something, Do It Stupid. But I also realize this fanfic has its own fanbase and I appreciate all the love this one gets. So, I'll try to be more proactive with this one as I finish my Code Geass story. Don't expect too many chapters constantly though.
As for Double Exposure, I have not played the game and haven't heard the best things about it so I'm just going to stay away from its story and its characters.
It was nice to write this chapter though as I got to create more hijinks with Max using her powers and Chloe taking total advantage of it.
And if you have any suggestions for what Max's superhero name could be, I'll try to include them in later chapters.
Hope you continue to follow this story, will update when I can.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!