[A/N]: Aight here's part 2 for today's chapter drop. Thanks for reading, y'all. Give Stones if you enjoyed, and if you feel like it, you could donate to the Ko-fi too. It'd help supply me with actual coffee, which I think might be the reason I can even write at all...
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"Fuuuck...!"
Maxie fell backwards, sweating buckets with her face as red as strawberries. Her eyes were unfocused and half-lidded as she landed on Lucian's chest and in his waiting arms.
"There," he said in a low voice. "Satisfied?"
Though she panted heavily, Maxie still managed to reply. "Yeah... shit, that felt good."
Lucian snorted, then chuckled. He eased her down to the grassy soil, reached over into a plastic bag, and popped open a still-cold can of soda for her. "This isn't ideal, but... well, it's what you bought earlier. You only have yourself to blame if it's not as quenchy as water."
Maxie giggled before taking the can from him to chug all of its contents. By the time she was done, a fit of hiccups had befallen her. "What do you mean? It's the quenchiest!" She said in response, crushing the can and tossing it into the nearest trash bin with startling accuracy.
"Damn... nice shot," Lucian remarked.
Breathing marginally calmer, Maxie untied her hoodie from her waist and wiper her sweat on its sleeve. "Yeah... always was good at that," she mused aloud. Then, she shuffled out of Lucian's hold to sit with her own strength. "You're even crazier, though. How do you take my punches and not feel anything? I even elbowed you a few times... well, I probably shouldn't have done that. Sorry."
"Well, I did goad you into it," Lucian retorted. "And, well... I did say I'm tougher than you're strong. Can't claim something and not back it up."
Grunting with a pout on her face, Maxie poked him in his side. "You could've at least pretended to be hurt."
Lucian sprawled back and sighed. "If it's any consolation, you did manage to push a bit of air out of me every time. I'm pretty sure my skin's kinda red under my shirt."
Maxie squinted and leaned over to pull his shirt up. While things were indeed as he said, she found herself quickly looking away with the blush on her face renewed. "Uh... yeah," she stammered. "It's red. Very red."
Unable to help himself, Lucian laughed at her reaction—and he managed to stop just in time to avoid getting slugged.
"Dick," Maxie spat, though she was clearly fighting a smirk that wanted to form on her face. After calming herself with a shake of her head, she sighed and laid down on the grass as well, hiccups now fading away.
Lucian waited a few more minutes before asking, "Now that you're feeling better... are you ready to talk?"
"Yeah," Maxie replied. "It's just... well, it's complicated. Tell me: have you ever fallen in love with your best friend?"
"Can't say I have," Lucian answered.
Maxie continued from there. "Well, I did. It started in middle school when I realized, I didn't just like boys."
Lucian nodded though it likely wasn't visible.
"Guess what happened almost a year into high school," said Maxie.
"Your best friend was the one to make a move," Lucian replied, which earned him a light swat on the arm.
"You weren't supposed to guess right!" Maxie whined.
Lucian grinned at the darkening smoggy sky above and closed his eyes. "What can I say? I'm a genius."
Maxie scoffed, but didn't let anything cut her story short. "Well... yeah. I got together with Tammy—that's her name. We stayed together until a short while into uni."
"What got in the way?" Asked Lucian.
Drawing in a tense breath, Maxie spat out a name. "Alec."
Lucian sat up, looking down at her on the ground. "How'd it happen?"
Maxie looked like she'd been forced to swallow a handful of dust. "I have no idea," she answered. "I just... it was normal for a while, you know? We were happy. Even a while into knowing Alec for that prick that didn't know when to stop, Tammy never really paid him any attention. Then, one day, she just... god damn it, she just flipped on me."
Her voice broke, and she needed to take a moment to breathe.
"I found them at our usual spot on campus," she continued. "They were making out, Lucian. She was on his lap and acting like everything we had before was a fucking lie!"
Maxie's voice trembled further and broke all the more. She lifted a shaky fist and hammered it into the soil with a dull thud. Soon after, she brought both hands to her face and started rubbing around her eyes.
"She broke things off with me right then, when they finally noticed I was there," she continued. "We kept in contact... but I just couldn't be around her anymore. I hate that Alec took her from me, that creep... but it's even worse that Tammy keeps acting like nothing really changed between us after just forgetting about all we've been through."
Lucian shifted on his spot, turning to face Maxie fully. "Can't imagine what that's like," he said. "I'm sorry."
She shook her head and swallowed. "Don't be. I'm just... besides my mom, I haven't been able to tell anyone all of this. I'm just glad I finally told someone else."
Maxie's face was a mess when she finally removed her hands from it. Tears were smeared all over, her eyes were bloodshot, and her eyes darted to and fro. Her lip trembled as she sobbed, but she struggled to bite down on it and was forcing herself to calm down.
"There's still more, isn't there?" Lucian finally asked.
Maxie grimaced. "Tammy's in the hospital right now. That's why I haven't... she's been stuck in my head since I visited," she admitted, wiping her face on her sleeves. "Her dad called me last night. They don't know how she got there or why, but she's a fucking vegetable right now. Alec wasn't with her when she was brought in, and no one can fucking contact him."
She paused to breathe, and continued spitting her fury. "I just hope he really was with her yesterday. Because then, I can hope that whatever made her like that, got to him first and he's even worse off."
Lucian set his jaw, hesitating to ask something he likely already had the answer to. "Max," he opened. "Tammy... it's a nickname for Tamara, right?"
She nodded, eyes scanning his face as she questioned, "Yeah... why ask that?"
He sighed and hung his head a little lower. "Her last name wouldn't happen to be 'Watson,' would it?"
Maxie shot up from where she had been laying down. She lunged for him and grabbed his face, staring with wide eyes into his own. The manic glint in them would have made him flinch were it not for his inhuman mental strength.
"What do you know?" She asked in a dangerously flat voice. "Tell me, Lucian."
He reached up and held Maxie by her wrists. The contact made her blink and pull away, mouth slack, face paling.
"Oh," she stammered. "Fuck, I'm sorry, I—"
"Don't." Lucian cut her off and squeezed lightly on her wrists. "I have a long story of my own, but I'll give you the short version."
She nodded, eyes laser-focused on his.
He let go and looked around to confirm that nobody was too close for what he was about to say. "I'm a vigilante, Max. I found Tammy yesterday, getting clingy with some guy, but I knew something was wrong."
He then explained the situation as best as he could—that Tammy wasn't in a proper state of mind when he found her. That there were people waiting in a car for the two of them. That he got in the way and Alec escaped with his accomplices after a fight, and Tammy was left catatonic yet obedient to commands in the aftermath.
"You mean she was being mind-controlled by Alec...?" Maxie's voice was listless, staring past Lucian and the world itself.
"Yeah," he replied. "I did manage to call for help, though. I have a contact that could get help from proper heroes—they're the one that took her to the hospital in my place. They should have a specialist on the way soon." He paused, then added, "They're good people, I can promise you that. Tammy will get better."
Maxie nodded without a word as she digested the situation. Then, connecting a few dots herself, she asked, "Lucian. The guy that Tammy was with—was he Alec? Dark skin, too much wax in his hair... disgustingly pretty face. Like that?"
"That matches what I saw," Lucian replied, "but show me a picture just to be safe."
Maxie's expression lit up, though there was no smile to be found. The light returned to her eyes as well while she turned on her phone and opened her messaging app. She scrolled up along her conversation with Tammy, and—
"Here!" She tapped on something and turned the phone to show Lucian. "Here, in this picture. Is that him?"
His expression turned grim. "That'd be him, yeah. Does he have any friends to speak of?"
Maxie thinned her lips. "There's this guy... Richard Orwell or something. Looks like he should be university staff instead of a student," she said. "Alec also has a sister. They don't get along very well, but she follows him around anyway. That's about all I know."
For the first time since Maxie shared her story, Lucian gave her a smile. "That's plenty," he said. "I'll go look for Alec soon. Is there anything else you can tell me?"
Maxie looked away, staring out toward the street. When she turned back, she said, "Walk me home? I'll tell you on the way."
"Sure thing. I'll update you tonight or tomorrow if I find anything."
...
Maxie didn't allow Lucian anywhere near her residence proper—he only escorted her to her block. He didn't follow her from a distance from there, of course, but he did keep [ Justice Sense ] on full blast just to play things safe. He only left when it didn't ping him to any changes ten minutes later.
The sun had set by then. He returned home and had a quick dinner with Nics and Waylon, where he updated them on what transpired. Nics was dismayed that he couldn't stay for longer, but was appeased when he promised to start teaching him swordsmanship the following day.
He also received a message from Oracle while having dinner.
"This is Oracle," the message said. "Come to the Clock Tower tonight. Delete this message."
From there, he quickly made his preparations and hurried over.
...
The Clock Tower was darker and more imposing than he remembered. It vaguely reminded him of Batman's silhouette when he loomed over him on their first meeting. He stuffed away his apprehensions and strode forward to step inside, and the front doors opened as if to welcome him. Some of the cameras turned in their spots along the walls, tracking his every movement.
In the chamber past the ground floor doors was a table that had clearly been set up just for the occasion. Atop it was an assortment of equipment that would have taken him months, if not years, to procure by himself. Most notable were the belts of throwing knives, pair of taser guns, pair of direct tasers, and an assortment of pouches filled with one-time use tools.
Lucian whistled at the sight, endlessly impressed and intrigued. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were buttering me up to get me to join an organization or something."
"We're not," Oracle replied. "This is to ensure your safety. I know you're great at what you do, but we prefer non-lethal methods here—and we'd rather have you return alive as well."
He chuckled, picking up a multi-layered compression shirt with long sleeves. It was obvious once he touched the fabric that it was a protective sort of mesh, meant to go with the heavy-looking armored jacket that was to replace his cheap hoodie.
During his silent observation of his new gear, Oracle spoke. "You should change into those now. The more time we waste, the better your targets can prepare."
"Aight, commander. I hear you," he replied.
Stripping down was an easy affair, but he treated donning his new attire with the gravity it deserved. It wasn't just an upgrade, after all. Putting it on represented a shift in his trajectory that would take him places he could never have imagined far sooner than he expected.
In the process of donning his new, nearly-all-black suit, Oracle probed him for what he knew. He revealed to her what he'd learned during the day: Alec's existence, his connection to Tammy and Maxie, his potential accomplices, as well as where he lived.
"Good," said Oracle. "I'll say you handled that conversation well. For now, you should stalk Alec Rave from afar. He could have more allies hiding in the woodworks, and we don't want to miss anything."
"I read you," Lucian replied, slipping on a plain black helmet with a complex white respirator attached.
"You also need a callsign while out on the field," Oracle added, her voice now coming from inside the helmet rather than the Clock Tower's speakers.
Lucian walked out through the doors, and they closed behind him with a heavy sense of finality. He spoke into the microphone built into his respirator. "For now... call me Revenant."
One for All thrummed in his veins. Somehow, it felt just as anticipatory as he was.
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[A/N]: And that's that. We got a lot of Maxine today, but it'll be all work for homeboy in the next handful of chapters.
Like I said, I'm taking a week off from writing either this week or the next to do some art! See y'all!
Take a cookie on your way out 🍪