"Join us? You're already a part of us," the Dictator smiled. "Look around you, and tell me what do you see."
Max didn't need to look around to see what he needed to see. It was right in front of him. Dark wisps of cloudlike substances were forming and dissipating right in front of his eyes. He tried to touch one, but his hand went through them like water.
"What have you done to me?!" Max yelled, snapping back to his senses.
"You were like that before you met me," Dictator Jones informed. Seeing his disbelief, Dictator Jones said, "Look through your memories. They'll tell you."
With no choice, Max closed his eyes and was suddenly in the past. Two adults he never knew before, who Max was now remembering as his parents were in the living room watching TV when a child about five years old came running into the kitchen. Max eyes widened in shock as he recognized the goofy smile the kid made: it was the same one he had.
"Mommy! Daddy! Look at what I can do!" the child happily said. He made three balls of darkness form around him and started juggling them.
"Max, what did we say about that?" the father said, tense and automatically upset. "I don't want you playing magic tricks in this house. Understand?"
"Or at school," his mother added. "We've heard about you doing those things at school. Don't do it again and just play with the other kids at school"
"Why?!" The child screamed, his father's words ringing in his ears. "Nobody wants to play with the strange kid. Nobody wants to play with the weirdo. Nobody wants to play with the freak!"
"Then stop being freaky and they'll play with you," the father reasoned. "Now I don't want to hear anymore of this. Go upstairs and do your homework."
The memory cut there and Max was transported to a different memory. On the way, Max around him as the smoke substance grew thicker. He felt an urge to reach out and touch it, but with the bonds in the way, he couldn't. As he struggled, the wisps solidified hard enough to cut his bonds.
At the arrival of the next memory, Max saw himself behind a building in a tree. He was about seven or eight now and, from what the memory told him, an orphan since he kept making 'magic tricks', despite his parents objections. Twenty other orphaned kids, bullies as he remembered, came walking out to the tree with food on a plate. 'Chicken, carrots, and corn,' Max remembered.
"Hey freak, we have your food," the leader grinned.
Younger Max hopped to the ground, eager to eat, since he missed breakfast, and happily reached for the meal. Before he could touch it, the leader flipped it over and let the food fall to the floor. The other kids laughed as both the older and younger Max stared at the food. The wisps were much thicker now and younger Max could feel the pull of revenge from the blackness, but he shook his head. 'It wasn't worth it,' he had thought. Turning back, he went back up the tree to do more thinking. On his way up, the bully picked up the chicken and threw at him.
That's when younger Max snapped.
He was down from the tree and crashing in the lead bully before his cronies could stand in the way. Younger Max and the bully rolled around on the ground, trading blow frequently, but to the bullies' surprise, Max was winning. The others stepped up to assist, but younger Max, and older Max, felt a surge of anger/power and the blackness pulled the other bullies back. Turning around, they saw the fog like entity around them. Screaming, the cronies ran off, leaving the leader to get his face pummeled by the younger Max.
Again, the memory cut there and Max was taken to the next memory. On the way there, the mist comforted him and Max was actually able touch the wispy substance. It was extremely soft, almost nonexistent, but then again, it was like smoke.
When they arrived at the next memory, older Max found himself in the former lair of the villains' hideout. Instead of Ruthless and the other villains the older Max knew, these villains were the 70 – 90's villains. Poacher, the mercenary who killed wealthy families and rising wealthy families, Mismatch, the face changing villain who could look like anyone he wanted, Pirate Pyro, the pyrokinetic villain, his wife, Madam Dynamite, the explosive villainess, and Nocturnal, the villain who could physically become someone's worst nightmare. Dr. Genie, Dictator Jones, and even Asphalt were also there, although they were younger.
There was a lot of smoke filling the room for whatever reason and it was a hard time for older Max to see what was going on in there. When the smoke cleared, a dark shield was standing, undamaged and seemed to be even more solid than before the explosion. Suddenly, the shield went away like smoke and the villains were face to face with an angry young Max, who eyes were completely black.
"I knew it," Dictator Jones grinned. "I knew one of you had powers. As for you Madam Dynamite, it doesn't take all those explosives to kill a bunch of snot nosed kids. Remember, we are in a cave."
"That was a small explosion compared to the rest of the bombs I got," the crazy woman laughed.
"Still yet, it would've been a shame if you had killed them Madam Dynamite," Dictator Jones shrugged. "Dr. Genie has been looking for more test subjects."
Dr. Genie had a malicious grin on her face as she took a step towards Max. Behind him were the orphaned children. The very kids who didn't like him.
"Now be good kids and you'll get a lollipop from the doctor," Dr. Genie said.
"Leave us alone," younger Max demanded.
"Us? Are you really going to defend them?" Dictator Jones smirked. "I've seen some of their memories. They bullied you, beat you up, and called you names. Are you sure you want to defend them after what they put you through?"
In all honesty, Dictator Jones wasn't lying. The other kids did ostracize him because they saw him as a weirdo. They fought him repeatedly, took his things, and got him in trouble. Looking at the other villains, the younger Max realized that he wasn't a weirdo. He had something they didn't. He had power. And he could do whatever he wanted. Slowly, he looked at them, wondering if he really wanted to help them.
As he was coming to a conclusion, the mist tapped him on his shoulder and pointed near the back of the group. Near the back was a girl who was cowering behind one of the other boys. His memory wasn't strong enough to remember her name, but it was strong enough to remember that she was the only one who was nice to him. She snuck him snacks, drinks, and even cake during the holidays. Max looked at the mist and realized that she made the rest of them worth saving.
"These are my friends," young Max declared. "Leave us alone!"
"Kids don't know anything these days," the Dictator shook his head. "Mismatch, bring the kid to me."
Smiling, the face changer walked towards Max, going through various faces of serial killers of the past.
"I said, 'Leave us alone!'" Max yelled. Immediately, the mist formed and part of the mass hit Mismatch in his stomach. Pirate Pyro quickly shot fireballs at Max, but, as if it was sensing danger, the mist returned and formed a shield once again around young Max and the orphans. Doing a series of moves, young Max made the shield shoot out tendrils that slammed into Pirate Pyro and his wife. Asphalt ran up next, but the mist caught him and sent him into the wall.
Poacher came next, and having seen the way the mist worked, was able to get through the shield. Weapons ready, he fired at the kids, but again, having sensed the danger, the mist formed an even tighter shield, excluding Poacher. When Poacher ran out of bullets, the shield turned into humongous fist and sent him to the wall right next to Asphalt. Knowing who was next, the young Max turned to face Nocturnal.
Unfortunately, that was the wrong move.
Looking into his eyes, Nocturnal's body morphed into a hideous creature. The closest Max could define it as was a goblin, and the worst looking goblin at that. The creature had a moderate burnt color, yellow eyes and an overbite full of sharp teeth. It wore light combat armor that was a darker burnt color and a blade in each hand. 'I remember when I used to be afraid of them,' Max thought, shuddering at his former nightmare.
The creature snarled at Max and ran for him. Fear coursed through young Max, making his smoky mist a lighter shade than earlier. Still the mist struck at the creature, but Nocturnal ducked and flipped out the way. It slammed at him, but he used the blades to cut through the mist, shocking young Max. The mist made a shield as a last resort, but it didn't stop Nocturnal from crashing through and swinging his blades.
