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Initially everything went off as planned. Max was able to throw his power over Michael and send the man upward. Unfortunatly Max hadn't expected the man to move quick enough to seize him by the leg and pull him with him.

As Michael soared upward Max followed being dragged upward by the man's arm. He aimed a kick at the man's arm with his free leg hoping to break the grip but the ceiling was quickly approaching. Michael tucked in for impact, and action that at his current weird angle Max couldn't replicate.

Instead Max put an equal gravity going down on himself, it would alow the momentum of the fall significantly and his muscles gave a scream of protest as twin forces pulled in opposition directions. He lurched forward and his hands hit the metal ceiling first. He gave another twist of his leg trying to break free and threw himself to the side hoping to skid across the ceiling and grab a support beam to brace himself. With Michael's brute strength the fear of snapping am ankle was a real threat and Max swore trying to get away from the man.

Being stared down by a seemingly sentient ventriloquist dummy is an incredibly uncomfortable experience. The blue eyes bored into him and he wished he knew what the little man was thinking. That was followed quickly by the thought of how stupid it was to be contemplating the thought process of an inanimate object. After a moment the dummy turned and returned to its owner and his car.

Rhett said his goodbyes and Max gave him a nod. Usually after losing a few grand on a bet someone wouldn't just bail. Rhett was obviously not just any old someone.

"We're mutants kid. We gotta look out for each other."

Something wasn't sitting right with Max. He had originally thought Rhett was a senile old man. He was slowly getting the impression that he was something far more dangerous. He had made a remark about breaking rules, and earlier had mentioned a guy from a bank. Somehow Max didn't think he was an angel.

"And what business is it of yours?" His inner self asked.

"Depends on who gets hurt if he's trying anything." He countered.

He had a decision to make. He could go about his business, stay out of the guys way, or...

Max reached the edge of the roof and saw Rhett car barrel out of the garage. Max leapt off the roof and to one nearby, running and keeping a bit of distance behind the vehicle. He'd just see where the guy was heading, no harm in that.

Agnes dismissed herself to go perform and Max gave her an appreciative nod. She seemed pleasant and Max was glad to have good company to work with him at Haven. Sletvana turned to him.

"So... you perform too? Are you a musician?"

Max gave a small smile, "I play guitar but I'm nothing amazing on it. Dance is my real passion."

Max gave a look around the room. Large high society social events such as this were not the normally accepted place to cut a rug. Max looked back at the blonde.

"What about you? What do you do?" He asked.

The phone was unceremoniously plucked from Maxwell's hand and he looked up in surprise to see the girl floating out above the cars. She bobbed above him in a familiar fashion, a very familiar fashion. It was his power, or something very similar. He hadn't met many people who could float, fewer who could fly.

It also raised the question of her intent. Ambrosia gave normal people mutant powers, but as far as Maxwell was aware the drug did little for mutants. If she already had a power why come here for drugs? It didn't make sense.

He would have explored the thought further if not for her words. Her voice rang out condescending and she mentioned calling his mother...

A storm of buried emotions flared up within Maxwell. "Mom" was a contact in his phone he had had since he was a boy, it was also a number he had not called since he was a young teenager. The thought brought back memories of a sad child sitting on a couch waiting for parents who would never return. Of funerals and foster homes and the smile of a woman who would never again speak to him.

He'd had what four phones? Five? Since her death, and every time he would come to that contact, and find himself unable to delete it. The reminder slammed into him and the storm unleashed itself into a surging fury.

"Give it back!" He shouted, his voice ringing in the room.

He jumped, instinctively channeling his power directly at the girl and felt himself hurling towards her like a battering ram. He drew back a leg and swung it at her midriff in a powerfull kick to the stomach. She was young, she was a girl, but he didn't care. Propelled by anger, sadness, and loss. She had no way of knowing that his mother was dead, there had been no intentional malice in her statement, but he didn't care. He had only one thought.

Make her pay.

Max saw her flinch away from him slightly as they hovered there. It was no surprise, the transfer of knowledge had been oddly intimate and now in the piercing silence that followed he found himself turning a bit red.

"How was I supposed to know he'd been raised in a bilingual household?"

It was the longest sentence he had heard her speak and it startled him. It was proof enough that her power had worked but from his perspective he found the sensation strange. She was using his memories to speak, and as he focused on what she had said he picked up on some of his own vocal cues. The slight elongation of vowels in the middle of words, the nonchalant and popping p at the end of the word "cop". All together it was a tad unsettling.

He stomach gave a loud growl.

Could we... start over? Like, maybe on the ground"

He gave a hearty laugh and lowered them to the kitchen floor, his feet settling on the cool tiles.

"Of course. Wanna grab some plates and I'll put everything together." He said.

He started stirring pasta and sauce and assessed his own feelings. Aside from a rather pleasant make out session the use of her ability had not been anything that really effected him. The implication needed to be addressed however.

"So," He began giving her a nervous look out of the corner of his eye, "did you just like download my life history? Now that we can communicate I'd love to hear how it works"

Damn this guy was good.

Usually slapping double gravity on someone slowed them down significantly. But more than that it put them off guard, suddenly finding yourself struggling against a force you usually didn't even think about.

Michael took it in stride. Max would try to flank only to see the man turning with him, he was slower but also didn't have to cover any distance to keep Max in his sight. His arms were up to protect his head and every time Max got withing range he was forced back by a series of shin kicks. All and all it added up to Max once again being forced to think of a new strategy.

Great.

He fought to think and the inkling of a theory began to form in his mind. Michael was huge now, a solid force of muscle, but it had happened in phases as the augmented gravity took effect. When Max had hurled himself at the man he hadn't increased in power until Max had thrown his weight in him. Every time Michael used his power it had been reactionary. Which meant that might be part of how it worked, in response to external stimulus.

Max filed the idea away, it would be handy but wouldn't help him out of his current predicament. Max glanced up and looked at the ceiling. Metal beams stood above him and the ceiling was made of metal supported by them. Bingo. He rushed straight at Michael and threw a mock punch at the man. He stepped into range of the kicks, pulled his fist back, and jumped upward over the man.

Lighter gravity made the leap superhuman and he rose a solid three feet over the hulking man. He flipped and brought a leg down in a kick, spreading his power down his limb. Hitting Michael wouldn't cause any damage, but he had his power ready to spring out and reverse gravity on the man. Sending him upward with the same force holding him down. Max couldn't land a serious blow, but Michael's own weight might be able to.

...and the other night you were well in your way to my bad side.

Max gave a wry smile in response to the statement as she continued her explanation of power. In retrospect it was incredibly lucky that things had turned out the way they had. He had Quin on his side for this investigation, and despite her terse exterior Max felt like there was a good choice we were going to become friends. Beat the hell out of spending a night in jail and paying some boatload of fines.

She said she had some calls to make and Max gave a terse nod.

"Sounds good. I have to run down some things on my end, unrelated to this case" He added.

Haven business was up, and Max needed to get started on it. The indulgence of investigating his own death was important but he had other responsibilities.

"Give me a call if you find anything. I'll be in touch. Once I get my schedule sorted we can plan our trip." He said.

He offered his hand to her again this time his face set.

"Thanks you for helping me. I owe you."