MAXIMUM PART 4

As Jake woke up, he looked around to see the entire room was covered completely in red smoke.

Once he turned to his left, he noticed a silhouette on the ground and rushed towards it. That's when he knew it was Stacya lying still a few metres from him, extremely injured from the effects of the explosion.

He ran even faster to get to her and noticed he was in his civilian clothes. His black armor was gone. Probably disintegrated by the explosion.

That didn't matter now though. What mattered was that his friends were safe.

Once Jake got to her, he took the grey lady in his arms and held her close, calling out to her hoping to get an answer but none came. It seems the explosion sent her flying towards a wall hard enough to knock her unconscious and leave a giant wound on her head.

One of many injuries really. Her leg was bending backwards, her arm was covered in scars and her nose and mouth were bleeding. The creature surely did a number on her.

Jake still called out to her but to no avail as she lay in his arms. Completely unconscious.

That's when Jake stopped. If he came a little sooner he could've...

And when he came he started acting all cool like some kind of action hero. Not even understanding the gravity of the situation.

If he had done better she wouldn't be so.. broken. Is this the kind of guy he wants to be? The same kind of glory seeking over jovial super he hates?

"H..hey Jake?" Zack said, emerging from the smoke after the explosion, still holding Paulina. He wouldve still been buck naked if Paulina didn't use her in built 3D printer to produce small flexible metal underwear for him when they were recovering.

"Thank goodness you're awake. We've been out for a couple of minutes but we still have time to get out of here. That thing could've survived the explosion." Paulina said, holding Zack even closer and looking around.

Paulina are you serious?!" Look at Stacya! She's been knocked out!"

"Yes I know but standing here moping about it isn't gonna wake her up. We need to move before that thing gets back up. I can still sense it's Shadow ener...hold on.."

"Paulina?"

"We need to move! We need to move now!"

"Paulina what's wrong?!"

"I sense something else. Not Muman genes or Shadow energy or not even Jake's blue energy! Something else. Something.. that feels...wrong." Paulina stuttered as she began to shake and pull Zack away.

"What about Jake and Stacya?! You know we can't just leave!"

"We'll take them along! Cmon we need to.."

"Hey guys?"

The two turned to Jake, putting their argument to a holt.

"Get Stacya out of here."

Wh..what's going on here" Zack said, flexing his left arm to see if his powers had returned.

They hadn't.

"I sense it too." Jake said, turning to face a figure covered in glowing red energy hidden behind a dirty cloud of smoke behind them.

"I'm getting these two to safety. I'll be back." Paulina said as she grabbed Zack by the shoulder and ran into the cloud of smoke.

"But Paulina.." Zack trued to protest, but was already long gone before he could finish.

As the figure in the smoke got closer, Jake began to shake erratically like he had a seizure, slowly generating immense kinetic energy from doing so.

In turn, immense blue energy as well.

However, it wasn't enough to regenerate his armor. He didn't understand how he summoned it so couldn't call it back. But he did have his energy back and now, he was ready to face anything that came his way.

Except the man in the smoke.

From the cloud, the concentration of red energy intensified, growing brighter and brighter by each passing second.

Until Jake had enough suspense.

"Get the hell out of there! Show yourself!" Jake screamed at the figure.

And then, it finally revealed itself.

By punching Jake in the stomach.

For once he was too slow to dodge. Too slow to block. Who was this figure?

Jake fell to his knees, reeling from the sudden pain and screaming in agony. He tried to look up but his body wouldn't let him. He held his gut like an unborn fetus and writhed on the ground as if he had been shot multiple times t once.

Then he felt the figure grab him by his hair. Raising him to his eye level, the figure finally spoke.

"Sorry about that. Just measuring the distance between us."

Now Jake got a good look despite the tears in his eyes from the pain. He sported black armor as well, so similar to Jake's but so different at the same time. While Jake's energy was blue, his was crimson red.

And while Jake's horns were short and pointed straight, his were longer and pointed upwards, like a soldier of the devil himself.

He threw Jake to the side like a bag of trash and as he rolled across the cold hard dirty floor, the demonic figure walked toward him.

Jake tried to get up, to fight back. Then pain in his gut was all that stood in his way of...

"What's wrong Jake? Don't tell me that little love tap was enough to hurt you."

That voice.

The way it mocked him. Belittled him. Just like that time.

"M..Max?!" Jake stuttered, his face twisting like he heard his closest friend had died.

Ironic since the opposite had happened.

"In the flesh!" Max said, pulling his fist back to give Jake another punch. Jake braced for impact...

Only for Max's arm to disappear almost instantly.

Behind them stood Paulina, her arm fully morphed into a bizarre pink blaster entwined with several wires and buttons which were revealed to be overly large veins and blood vessels.

"Whoa now! I've heard of you! You're Diamond Light from the Danger Squad! Relax. I don't want any trouble." Max said, raising both his only remaining arm to show he had surrendered.

"D..Danger Squad..?" Jake said, turning toward her with an eyebrow raised.

"Not now Jake." She said to him, causing him to nod and focus at the task at hand. That's when he noticed his pain had subsided a little.

"You know me and how dangerous I can be considering the fact I took your arm just now"

"I can see that. And feel it too." Max said, chuckling a little. He then grew red glwoing tentacles from the hole where his arm used to be.

Tentacles that morphed into a whole new arm.

Paulina did all she could to stop herself from vomiting. This kind of shit is one of the reasons she gave up this life.

She looked briefly at Jake and was surprised he wasn't disgusted.

He was angry.

"H..hey! What the hell is this?! You were a mindless beast before and now you're here wearing a replica of my armor and cracking jokes?!" Jake shouted to his former friend.

What?!" Paulina shouted, now failing to see any similarly between that beast and this strange man. She soon realised it was obvious since the beast was nowhere in sight.

"Yeah. I have to thank you for that. It seems your mysterious blue energy not only overcame Mr E's mutoxin but also awakened something within me as well. Although my shadow powers are gone, I have this red energy and I'm free from that mutoxin filth. You really saved me. Just like with that robber am I right?"

Jake immediately appeared right in front of him, charging enough blue energy in his fist to disintegrate an entire building and focused it all into disintegrating Max's smug face.

Only for Max to stop the attack with his finger.

Not only stop it, but negate it to the point it was nothing more than a normal punch.

"Whoa there buddy. We aren't that close okay?" Max said and began chuckling again.

Jake pulled back, ready to give another attack but was stopped by Paulina's hand on his shoulder.

He turned to face her, his teeth gritted and bloodlust written in his eyes. All she did was turn her head from side to side.

At that moment he realised he wouldnt win.

He suppressed his energy and his immense rage then turned to Max as he began walking away into the smoke.

"Hey Max."

Max didnt stop. He didn't turn or do anything to show he was even paying attention.

"You know what Mr E plans to do to the city. To the world. Won't you stay? Won't you stop him? If not for our world at least don't you want vengeance for what he's done to you? "

Now he stopped.

"Actually I don't. What he did to me was my own fault. It was my hubris that brought me to him and I suffered because of it. But I'll tell you that story if we meet again. On the low chance you survive."

"C'mon! Are you telling me you're a coward?! If the Max I knew saw you like this, would he be happy?!"

"If being a coward means leaving a useless death to the fools who want it, then yes, I am a durty coward. And the Max you knew is dead Jake. Bury it."

Max turned to look Jake dead in the eye and disappear in a flash of red light right after.

Jake fell to his knees and suddenly started crying.

Paulina held him by his shoulders and gave him a hug from behind.

"Uh..hey, I know we just met and this isn't my place to say but, this won't help us. We need to move." Paulina said.

She looked at him still crying and realising she said something she wasn't supposed to say and tried to apologise. However he cut her off before she could even speak.

"It's alright. You're right. This won't help us. My friend is dead."

Jake then got up and locked eyes with her and she instinctively pulled herself closer to him. She didn't know why but he had some sort of confidence behind him.

"C'mon. Mr E is next."

Jake then walked to where Zack and Stacya were placed. Paulina followed suit now knowing this man was nothing like how Zack described.

He was more like her.

"Kara..." Paulina whispered under her breath.

To be continued...