The basketball hall was filled with people paralyzed by surprise, each for vastly different reasons. Donto himself stood in a state of amused disbelief. He had never expected the "Max Smith" who had been causing ripples of trouble across the department to actually be Max Stern—a relative he had long since written off as a parasitic footnote in the family tree.
In Donto's memory, Max was nothing more than the useless member of the family, a weak-willed boy who lacked the grit to amount to anything. He was completely unaware of the metamorphosis that had taken place in the shadows of the city, largely because Donto's world began and ended with his own reflection. To him, anyone not currently in the spotlight was irrelevant.
As for the others at the observation table, including Rick and Aki, they were hearing the name "Stern" attached to Max for the very first time. The weight of that revelation hit the freshmen like a physical blow.
