-Gotham Pediatric Care-
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"Please, I just want to see her!" A redhead woman yelled. "We sent her here to get help. Not whatever else you bastards are doing!" She was livid and her husband was angry as well. Just more contained as he felt the situation was odd. Their daughter was brought here to get help with the metagene that started to become active. Not this clandestine act they were doing. "We have rights as her parents!"
"I will not stand for this. This is America damn it! I am getting my daughter out of this place now!" Mr.Selton walked passed the attendee after throwing another against a wall. He may be a retired Marine, but he kept himself in decent enough shape.
"We need you two to calm down." Another attendee said. He was a government official and had already turn on the silent alarm. Everything after all was as illegal as can be. Another rogue operation vying for achievements. "Just calm down and we will go from there. Like I said, your daughter's condition is unstable currently."
Several security personnel came and escorted them out. The Selton's spent all of their income to get this far. No money for a lawyer to take on a government-run operation like this. They were on their wits' end. While talking over what happened one day, Selina heard the details. This was during one of the times she ran away from home.
For good reason.
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Park-
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"You ok Selina?" Max asked. He looked her over to make sure but everything read fine. The cameras never made it this far out to catch anything. He started to gather his Spirit energy as he cast the spell. "Reveal a Time Forgotten!"
Reveal a time forgotten was a viewing spell. Mostly used in surveillance and espionage work. Max picked it up during his time as an Enforcer in a magic world. Helped a lot with finding people who stole from the boss and narrowing down suspects. At its peak, it could render the entire body to its natural state. Seeing past all augments. Max never got it that far. To hard.
*Vrrrmm vrmmm!* The area distorted as images of what happen in the past appeared. Spectral images showed those who came and took Claire. With a wave, the masks were revealed a little.
The images were incomplete. It needed to bre rendered once more.
*Woom woom* Additional Spiritual magical energies pulled from the surroundings of the park to fill in possible changes in the face. Rendering only gave a little bit more of what they looked like. And that was for the ones who talked more. The moving of the mouth changed the indentions of the mask to reveal more.
"I am angry!" Selina said. Wisps of differfent energies entered her. She was still cultivating the energy to get it to subside. "Later, teach me that spell. It looks handy." She watched intently and tried to figure anything she could make out. But her thoughts went to Claire and the fact she was shot earlier. "They shot me... I do not like getting shot."
"Yeah.. but you are doing good with that. We will talk in length about it later. I know you want to save her. So we will." Max gave her a reassuring smile. He could feel the anxiety wash off her. A little fear for herself, but more for Claire than anything. "We will help her. You will make sure she gets safe, and I will deal with them."
"Thank you. I should have known better." Selina admonished herself. "Should have known it would not be easy like that. Just the fact they bugged her is.. wrong."
"From your viewpoint it is. But remember she is a Metahuman. At any giving point in time she can loose it and killed a large score of people." Max finished putting things togethor. As it dissipated, he activated the next one. "WayPoint, lead us to Claire Selton."
*Boop* An arrow appeared in front of the two and pointed towards the East of Gotham.
"That may be true, but right now she is the victim Max." Selina said from the side. Max gave her a nod agreeing. "Haaa, glad you see it my way. If she was a homicidal maniac I would not help her."
"That is good. We need to make sure it stays that way." Max gave a smile as he cast an invisibility spell on them both. "Magic has its uses. So we will use them as needed. Several cultivator techniques could do it better, but magic allows more flexibility. But that is higher up. We running up the rooftops for faster travel."
"Right!" Selina kept her curiosity in check. Seeing Max still was odd. But her surroundings took on a weird faded look to change focus. The two jumped on the nearest building with ease and ran along the rooftops. Selina kept track of the way objects left impressions around them. "Max, what about footprints?"
"Take another look behind you quickly." Max said after they landed on another building and stepped.
Selina looked to see the area returned to normal. Focusing her spirit energy in her eyes, she saw little magical hands made everything as it was before. "Advanced Mage Hand. Low-level spell maxed out. It is a godsend. It uses almost no energy whatsoever."
"I have a lot to learn." Selina said.
"Selina you are doing fine. I have a lot of practice." Max added. "You made it to the Current Level: Initiate (Tier II) so quickly. Right now, you are getting in control of it. Never forget to make sure you have control of your body. It is what helps you live normally. Sometimes... that is better than a high cultivation that sticks out."
"Right." Selina nodded and increase her pace to match up with Max again. Slowly she pushed everything out but kept traveling to the destination. 'So much to know. I cannot wait to get to the higher stuff!'
23 minutes later they made it to a warehouse and scooped it out quickly. Max showed Selina a viewing technique to look inside. Peekaboo eyes. She laughed at the name and realized Max's naming sense was childish for the techniques he made himself. Selina picked it up in a matter of minutes.
Peekaboo eyes worked by placing the hands in front of the face. Spreading the fingers, helps zoom in past solid objects. Closing them back, zoomed the view out.
Claire was in the back still out cold. An IV attached giving her a mild sedative constantly most likely. Selina surprised Max at how calm she remained. The Two snuck in from the roof. The camera was infiltrated by the A.I. to let them bypass everything. The bad news, it was on a different feed then most of the building.
Max held back on spreading his cultivation until it was needed. No sense just yet to risk it. In case some unsavory things picked up him spreading his spiritual awareness.
A spiritual strand left from Max to Selina. One the benefits of having a strong Spiritual Sense. Imagine a thin subatomic line reaching from Max's mind towards that of Selina's.
'Hold up.' Max transmitted to Selina. Up ahead two guards were coming past. The hallway was to narrow for them to slip past. 'Unless you want to jump over them?' It was rhetorical but Selina took him as serious.
*Tap* A small hit against the wall could be heard. Selina used the side of the wall to help push herself across. Instead of landing on the ground, she grabbed a support beam. Flipping her self over with ease.
'Nice.' Max added with a thought. With a push, Max somersaulted over the two. He landed 20 feet past them and moved forward.
Selina maneuvered up top and kept a lookout as they moved. Max found it funny that she resembled her adult self as she moved. Slinking like a cat with ease. And staying in the shadows despite the invisibility.
With her, up top and Max down below they moved effortlessly towards Claire. Taking note that Selina was naturally training by using her street smarts with her cultivation. Defintely dedicated.
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-Claire Awake-
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Max had flushed the girls' System of the drugs. Selina spent time explaining everything that she thought would help her understand things better. Max focused on everything in the room and infiltrated the computer to get any information for later.
The conversation was somewhat heated as Claire was scared about getting abducted again. As well as putting Selina in danger with Max. Looking at Max, she felt he was dangerous. Her powers felt completely calm when he moved nearby. As if suppressing her.
"The choice is yours." Max spoke after some time. "They are on the way back."
"What is to stop you from doing what they did?" Claire asked.
"The contract." Max said plainly. "A list of rules and restrictions in place to keep me from doing anything to outlandish. Focus on it, time slows down for the reader to understand what it says. Allowing them to add additional things."
"Hmmm, you are a weird man. I say man because you are not my age." Claire stared at him. Inside the contract, she asked to know Max's true age. It was a ridiculous number to say the least. Despite not wanting to believe it, she couldnt help but do so. Especially after everything that happened to him. Her having the ability to control fire was already something not normal. "Is she contracted as well?" She asked pointing a Selina.
"Yes. The first full female contract here actually. She did it for.. well asked her yourself. I need to take care of some people right quick." Max walked pass the door where the agents were. Two spirit swords appeared in his hands. "Gentleman and ladies... a choice is before you. Submit and live. Or I kill you."
"Get him!" The leader yelled. He was excitied after seeing what Max did. Another person to experiment on would make this worthwhile. "We need the test subject back alive."
"Oh dear, killing it is then." Max mumbled.
*Woosh!* Activating the movement art (Slithering Eel Initiate Lv V), he moved through the area at blinding speed. The stun rifles opened fire to stop him. He took each of them in happily.
*Pew Pew Pew Pew Pew!* Each shot slammed into his body with a force to knock an average man off their feet. However, Max had a coat of spirit energy in front to help push the force away. Slowly, Diligence circled along with Wrath as he fought. His cultivation rising slowly.
"Its not working!" An agent yelled. She tried to reach for a regular firearm on her side. But was to slow. Max was right in front of her. "I do not wish to die!"
"To late Abigail." The swords moved fast and bisected her head. It fell to the floor, containing the same look of terror stuck on her face. With a quick move, Max threw the two swords at two other agents. "Goodbye Carl, Goodbye David."
*Schup Schup!* The vest did nothing to stop the enchanted swords from piercing directly into the body.
"Ahhhh!" An agent threw his gun and made a run for it. Max connected to his sword with his left hand. With a thought, it left the chest of the one agent and shot after the fleeing one.
*Pow!* A different sound rang out from the back. A crate was opened and slightly high-tech gun fired. The tech let Max know it was not of Earth design.
*Ding!* The sound of a gong echoed out on contact. It pierced Max's shield with ease. Exciting him even more so. This caused his cultivation to speed up even faster.
"Fun fun!" Max said happily. He went after the other agents and cut each of them down. Steady taking shots as he did so. "So many sinners. Not a good one among you really."
*Pow Pow!* To more shots from the rifle staggered Max. His clothes were exposed and the shield completely gone now.
"Please.. I have a kid..." A male agent said. Max loomed over him and paused.
"Right but you see, you have killed a few family members of parents who tried to get their kids back. They pleaded as well right?" Max watched as the man nodded. "Good, then you understand why you have to die yes? It would not be justice if I let you live."
"This... this is not Justice!" The man groveled and screamed.
"Of course it is." Max cut the man's throat. "Just my own kind of justice. Dark Justice if you will." With a quick step, he slithered over by the man with the hich tech rifle. "Hi."
"You freak! You killed them all!" The agent yelled. He kept pulling the trigger at Max. "Die you monster!" Fear etched in his eyes but he wouldn't stop firing.
*Pow Pow Pow Pow Pow!* At point-blank all of Max's skin was exposed. His left pec was devoid of muscle tissue. Heart almost punctured by bone. *Click!* Pulling the trigger the agent watched in horror as Max's flesh regenerated in front of him. *Psssh!* He pissed himself in fear.
"I let you live this long for several reasons." Max stared at the man. With a flick of his hand, the other sword returned. A slight circulation of energy and his clothes came back. The two swords slid into his sleeves. "You have a son and a daughter. If you want them to live, kill yourself."
"You would even go after them!" The agent yelled. Max smiled at him and nodded. "God please protect them from monsters like you." The man reached for his service weapon and shot himself in the head.
*Pow!* The bullet passed in a specific spot that would alert the "Agency" that they were compromised. As a criminal brought in to dirty work, he needed to make sure certain tasks were completed. It was better than knocking over banks all the time.
(Charity- sacrifice accepted. Circulating for cultivation.)
"The only thing you ever did right for your kids, Agent Terror..." Max shook his head at the body. With a wipe of his hand, all the bodies were put into his inventory. "....was a change to this lifestyle actually. I would never have found them otherwise."
The A.I. would work to break them down into resources. Max went to get Selina and Claire. The gun was also placed in inventory.
'Hmm, maybe the mother will have better luck raising Tommy & Tuppence (Terror Twins) by herself. I will have to watch them closely in the future.'
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-Next Day-
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Claire and Selina had rested in the apartment and talked about things constantly all night. Claire decided it best if her parents were lead to believe she died due to the experiments conducted on her. She rather not take the chance of them targeting her folks again.
A compromise was found in its place. Max provided a fake body for the parents. It would remain in a coma for a few years. Once Claire was 21 she would go back to her parents to spend time with them. She could tell them it was a fake or whatever. Max left it up to her.
A "company" would hear about her condition and take care of all her medical fees. Claire agreed. The problem was what to do with her in the present.
Claire was Selina's change. Not Max's. So the tribulation would fall on her. But the look Selina gave him cause Max to pause. The look of someone who did not plan that far. And had know idea what to do.
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-Breakfast table-
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"Look you have to wear it. Not up for discussion." Max said with finality.
"I do not want to be restricted!" Claire grumbled. She looked at the weird thing in her hand that reminded her of a bad choker. "It looks ... eeww..."
"Haaa, just practice then. Stop being so willful!" Selina added. Her mother Maria smirking at the statement. "Help me out here mom."
"Sweetie your friend just does not think it is best for her. It may remind her of something she does not like." Maria said suggesting a few things. she was made aware of some of the things that happened to the girl.
"It is for the safety of herself and others. Look, your fire comes out when you are emotional. Like now for instance." Max pointed at her hair flickering back and forth. "If you are out in public and something spooks you, what then?"
"I.." Claire did not have a real comeback for that.
"You might hurt someone or kill them. Considering vehicles on the street as well as may explode, you are a walking terrorist threat." Max's voice came out cold. "You need to control yourself if you want the freedom to be like everyone else. I understand your frustration."
"What would you know of my problems?" Claire asked looking up. She did not trust Max still. The closer she was to him, the more she felt her firepower settle down in fear.
"My dear, I know the power of fire more than 95% of the people in the galaxy." In Max's hands were several different "fireballs" of different color. Each shifting shape. "You may think you are treated unfairly, but what about the people you kill? They are the real ones who suffer from your outbursts."
Max dispersed the flames and turned to leave.
The multi colored fire, was made of different types of energies. When Claire signed the contract, Max gained his Alchemist Fire back from the energy. He could start making Elixer's better again for his cultivation.
"I still do not want the band." Claire mumbled. She looked at the bracelet and felt disgust from it.
"Do what you want. I know longer care what happens. Your second chance is for you to decide." Max grabbed his backpack and headed out.
"Max, where are you going?" Selina asked.
"To school of course." Max shut the door behind him as he moved. The door to the opposite side opened up. It was John Constantine. Giovanni Zatara had sent him back for he could go to school. Like a normal kid. Despite his protesting and that of his daughter Zatanna. "You do your math homework?"
"I forgot all about it. To busy studying Portuguese." John said stifling a yawn. "Ah, it will be ok. Just need to keep it from the old geezer. He is such a stickler for things."
"Right." Max gave a nod. The two chitchatted to help John understand the language better.