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#3
SEP 13 |
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“To The Max!”
“Give me another, Sam.”
“I’ve told you ten times now, my name ain’t Sam,” the bartender complained, but he poured another double bourbon. “I hate to tell you this, again, but I think your friend ain’t coming.” As he shook his head, not-Sam moved on down the bar, not that there were other patrons in here, but he didn’t wish to remain with the man he’d just re-watered.
Instead of going for his drink, he checked his watch, which was exactly a minute later than when he checked it a minute ago. “Maybe Sam’s right,” the man spoke to him, “maybe you have been stood up, Max.”
That’s when the door chimed as someone new entered this dingy little hole-in-the-way in downtown Chicago. This man was tall and wide, not fat so much as bulky without being muscular, and wore a navy jumpsuit, but it was turned inside-out. Though he didn’t know the man, Max knew it was the person he was waiting for. “Sorry, sorry,” the guy apologized as he slipped onto the barstool next to Max. “I got held up at work,” but the man winced as clearly he hadn’t meant to share that. “I got here as soon as I could. You weren’t waiting long, were you?
“That explains the coveralls,” Max said, and when the man looked down and was embarrassed at that having been noticed, Max shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. That’s not as important as getting some answers.”
Not-Sam moved down the bar to serve his new guest, but Max waved the bartender off. This was important and he didn’t want any more interruptions.
“I...ah, I don’t know that I can help you there, Mr. Lord,” the man stammered.
“You can, and you will. With everything I did for you, or I’m going to guess for those you’re employed by, I think that I am owed them, especially after what happened at the National Republic Bank of Chicago.” The man’s guilty look let Max Lord know that he had him and that now was the time to press for more. “Come on, I did everything you asked of me, so it’s only fair that you answer some questions.”
“You were paid. A lot.”
“That I was, but then what I had to find was rather difficult to come by. Two halves to a fractured Mother Box, and then to bring them here to Chicago, then deposit them in two separate banks for safe-keeping. Then they go and get stolen. Funny how the thieves took only those two items from each separate bank, don’t you think, mister...?”
The man opened his mouth and then closed it. “I shouldn’t have come here,” the man decided and looked at anything but Max.
“Then if not to help me, why did you?”
“They told me to. That it was the only way to be sure you’d show up.”
That caused Max’s eyes to go wide. He knew he’d dealt with someone low on the totem pole all this time and, frankly, before the robberies he hadn’t cared. From experience, however, he knew that coincidence was normally anything but and was generally cause for concern. So hearing what was just said to him, Max Lord knew that he’d lead himself into a trap. Without further addressing the man who had agreed to come see him, Max tossed a hundred on the bar and quickly got up to go. “Keep the change,” he tossed to ‘Sam’ as he bolted for the door.
“... wait,” said the man Max left behind.
For the life of himself, Max couldn’t say what made him pause and look back.
When he saw the man draw an Apokalipian weapon from his coveralls and point it at him, Max knew he really shouldn’t have looked back.
Fortunately, he hadn’t gotten too far so as that weapon was brought to bear on him Max was able to lunge and grabbed the man by the pistol wrist and his overalls. “Oh no you don’t! You don’t go shooting me in the back,” Max snarled and he wrenched the man around. Max slammed the man’s pistol hand down on the bar top, which caused the weapon to be dropped. Then Max hurled the guy over the bar and the overalls ripped where Max’s grab had remained tight, anger strong. Even the bartender had gotten the clue when the alien-looking weapon was drawn and had dashed out the back. “Not a bad idea,” Max once again spoke to himself as he moved around behind the bar, kicked the downed man for good measure and looked for his rear exit.
That’s when the front door explored inward and a swarm of masked, armed men charged in.
“So, why do we have to go down there and check this out? Isn’t there like a whole security team or something that can do this?”
“Stop your whining, Michael. Having a security guard not check in is one thing, but not to do so for several times in a row can be kind of alarming.”
“Right, Ted, so that’s something security team should handle.”
“Hey, if they have a pair of superheroes living upstairs and there’s something this suspicious, I can’t blame them for calling us to go down and check it out.”
“Well, if it’s so potentially dangerous, why didn’t we go down in costume?”
“I am! I told you to ‘suit up!’ and then, as we were leaving, that you might want more than your bathrobe!”
Booster knew that Beetle had him there so he lapsed into silence and kept pace as the two dashed downstairs. Since they had moved into the thirteenth floor of Kord Enterprises, into what had once been the offices of Blue&Gold, they had been called upon very little to do anything of service for the rest of the building, so he had no cause to complain. Still, he thought to dart back upstairs and to get into his trademark costume, instead of the robe and fuzzy slippers he was wearing. Yet, he was determined to not give Ted the satisfaction of an ‘I told you so!’ moment, so he scooted to keep up with Beetle’s determined pace. “It’s probably not even anything,” he shared aloud.
“Maybe,” Blue muttered hopefully as they entered the elevator that would carry them down to the lobby below.
Silence held them on the ride down, but once they exited Gold couldn’t keep it in any longer as the pair found and made a quick visual survey of a very empty space. “See? It’s nothing. This guard is probably asleep in the broom closet or som–!”
*CCCrrrAAAAsssssHHHH*
The front door to Kord Enterprises exploded inward and through the shower of glass and debris came a figure, one of a battered and broken man. He hit the tiled floor and slid across it, his torn clothing ripping further which revealed several burnt and smashed bits, and exposing of mangled flesh and...sparking robot bits? The man groaned as he came to a stop, which roused Blue Beetle and Michael Carter from their stunned positions as they now rushed forward to see who this was, and what they could do for him.
Beetle got to the figure by the second groan and turned him over. “... Max?!”
Max Lord groaned again, coughed, but was unable to speak. Half of his face was torn off, revealing his robotic features underneath. His jaw was unhinged and nearly separated, and one eye was blacked out where it had seemingly exploded or been shot. One side looked to have been badly burned and, where a metallic being was revealed, a good portion of it was melted. On the other side, Max’s right hand was a jumbled mess as it was broken in ten different places, and that leg was jagged in the middle of the thigh. In all, it appeared to be a marvel that Max Lord was alive enough to groan....or to be considered functional?
“Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” stammered Booster as he looked down from above. He paused, considered, thought a moment more and then shook his head. “Since when has Max been a robot?”
“Michael!” Blue looked up, incredulous. “Ever since Kilgore killed him and brought him back! So, like...for years! What’s wrong with you?”
“What?! I think I’d remember something as dramatic as that, I mean...”
“Exactly! You don’t just *forget* something like that! Your friend gets his brain transferred into a robot body, that’s kind of a big Hallmark moment, though they don’t make cards for something like that...yet...anyway! It was kind of a big thing.”
“You sure?” Booster rubbed his chin. “Well, maybe now that I think about it...but you have to admit, it just makes more sense for him to be human.”
“It’s not like you can just erase continuity with the wave of a well-intended wish!” Ted was done arguing about it. “We have to get him some help. Let’s get him upstairs, quick.” Max groaned again, his one eye fluttered as he realized who it was that held him. “We should get him covered up. Give me your robe,” Blue held out his hand.
Michael took a step back. “Ah...I’m not wearing anything underneath this.” The two blinked at each other. Max made a sound then that sounded like a faint growl.
Booster jumped and said, “Right, let’s get him upstairs and see what you can do to get him...repaired?” He moved to get Max’s feet but also kicked off his slippers quickly and placed them over Max’s mangled hands. As he did this, Max’s broken left hand opened and out fluttered a piece of ripped cloth. “What’s that?”
Beetle picked it up and looked, but then held it up for Booster to see. It was a section of the blue overalls, the same color that the guards here in the building wore, and the swath even had the breast embroidered emblem that clearly read ‘Kord Security’.
“This had better be good.”
She did not look happy, but then Booster Gold couldn’t blame her for being so cross. “I wouldn’t have called you if it wasn’t so urgent, Kimmy.”
“Kimiyo,” she corrected, rather sternly. She clearly wasn’t of the opinion to tolerate him this early in the morning, hours before her shift was supposed to have started. She stood just inside the shattered entranceway to Kord Enterprises and rather casually reached up to pin up her long hair as took in the now-costumed Booster. “You mentioned this when you woke me an hour ago. When I was asleep. At home. With my two children.”
Gold winced as he knew he wasn’t winning himself any favors here. “It’s about Max. Lord. Max Lord.” Once he saw concern on Kimiyo’s face, he explained. “We don’t know what happened, but it’s not good. Ted and Skeets are upstairs working on him right now. He’ll make it, they’re sure. I mean, he’s pretty banged up but he’ll pull through.”
“He should be tough, for having a robot body.”
“How does everyone remember that but me?!”
“Michael, focus,” Kimiyo reminded him as an edge of frustration crept back into her voice. “If he is to be fine, why call me? May I remind you, two children...”
“Yasu and...Imako. See? I’m not a total jerk,” Booster sighed. “I remember you kids and I still haven’t forgiven them for what they did to my collection of rare, mint action figures! I mean wh–!” The annoyed look she gave him silenced Gold, as he realized now was not the time to launch into that fight. Before she could say ‘they were toys, you play with toys’, he thought to get back to the matter at hand. “Anyway, they why is because of this.” He held out the piece of cloth that they had retrieved from Max’s hand, the one that was a piece of the missing security guard’s uniform. “Whatever was done to him traces back to here. Ted’s busy and so, since you’re working here now, I thought you could show me around.” He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. “I know I’ve been living here for months, but now might be a good time for a tour...”
Kimiyo eyed her former teammate. After the Justice League Europe had fallen apart, she had realized how selfish she had been and retired from heroics to focus on her family. That consisted of her two children and her budding romance with Izumi, Izumi Yasunari, or better known as the fellow Japanese hero Rising Sun. Yet, Izumi sought a more active heroic identity and that had torn the couple apart, as Kimiyo was devoted to her family and career now, which was coincidentally when the offer from Kord Enterprises had come in. She had been with the company now for the better part of a year and had come to know the inner workings better than the man who bore the company’s name she knew, but duty compelled her to see reason. If there was something afoot at Kord Enterprises, she wished to know what it was just as much as her pair of former-teammates-now-just-colleagues.
“Come on,” she waved and took flight, a sheath of light radiating around her as she lead the way forward. Booster gave a sigh of relief as he took flight to follow the retired Dr. Light, his old golden barrier lighting him.
“Up or down?” she asked him this as she lead him to the stairwell. “Down are several sub-levels of laboratories. It’s mostly robot and vehicular science going on down there, from what I understand. I haven’t been down there much. I know they have a rocket propulsion testing system, as they showed it off to a team of us when they brought it online.”
“Yeash, what all does this place do? I thought it just made cheap radios and things,” Booster stated as he caught up.
“Nowadays? A little bit of everything,” Kimiyo said as she looked in both directions, then decided to go with what she knew. Up she went and Booster followed. “The the past five years Kord Enterprises has diversified and now produces some of the leading scientific patents in the world, and is competing with Wayne and LexCorp. It certainly has a stronger higher scientific leaning and a building lead across almost all fields. The community here is very desirable,” she shared easily. After all, that had been the selling point that convinced her to relocate her family from Japan to Chicago.
“Ted’s been busier than I thought.”
“It’s not been due to Theodore,” Kimiyo confided. “With his focus on heroics, the board appointed someone else to manage the company. Shamir Chanel, who has done a remarkable job to build the scientific foundation of Kord into what it’s become. With Cadmus basically closing, and many S.T.A.R. Labs having their funding cut as President Luthor awards more contacts to LexCorp or other private business, Kord has seen a major influx of talent from almost all fields. Robotics, like I said, to astrophysics to biofuel propulsion or agricultural gene-modification and socio-media mapping implants, there’s little in the way of cutting edge science that Kord isn’t involved in or at the forefront of. Chanel has been busy recruiting some of the most highly sought after scientific talent in the world.”
“Including you,” Booster cut in as they went up several floors. “Aquatic agriculture, right?”
“Very good! Sub-aquatic refraction for deep sea energy recycling and agricultural deployment,” Kimiyo slowed down to share her smile. Maybe she had misjudged Booster Gold, slightly. “Once I can modify the necessary current modification tables so as not to impact the...”
“We’re zooming by all these floors here.”
Maybe not, Kimiyo rethought of Booster, but quickly conceded to his urgency. “The first twelve floors are now mostly clerical offices. Personnel, accounting, marketing. Things like that, and then there is your floor,” she coughed.
“You’re welcome to come by anytime. You should!”
“Maybe,” she said easily, “but for now we keep going up.” As they passed the thirteenth floor, where Blue&Gold was, there were thirty-seven more to go and the two of them wound their way up the empty stairwell. “Here they are developing gel capsules with algae bio-waste that can serve as energy pellets, or consumable batteries if you wish,” Kimiyo indicated. “On this floor they have a whole wing of looms that are threading together strings of micro-processors to weave together wearable computers that can read and anticipate the needs of the wearer. Above them, here,” she waved a hand as they climbed higher still, “they are trying to perfect the prototype they have developed of prosthetic eyes, and I have been helping them with the photic level scaling.”
Booster Gold kind of phased out what Kimiyo said about the next couple of levels, but kept an ear open for certain keywords that might trigger something. Truth-be-told, he wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but he knew that he would know once he found it. The person that had attacked Max had come from this building, so there had to be something here within the building that was worth fighting Max Lord over. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it but Booster knew there was something he was supposed to be remembering about this era of Kord Enterprises. He hadn’t been all that surprised by Kimiyo’s revelations, which had clearly and continued to perplex her as she knew it was truly impressive stuff, but what little Michael could remember from his history this was the time. The time of change, when Kord Enterprises would...
“Wait, wait!” Booster came to a stop mid-air, and Kimiyo had to slow, turn and return to him. “What was that you just said, about this floor here?”
“The forty-fourth? This has the interstellar lab, where they do all of the galactic mapping and universal spectral analysis. They have some very advanced gravitation theories coming out of there concerning the nature of black holes...”
Booster snapped his fingers. “That’s it!” He was not sure how he knew but this was it. He dashed ahead and tried the door to that floor, but it wouldn’t open.
“Let me,” Kimiyo said as she touched his arm. When Gold moved back so she could try, Kimiyo swiped her ID card but...nothing happened. “Odd.” She looked to Booster and continued, “I have clearance for every floor. I don’t...” Her brow knit. “We should go see Dr. Chanel,” she decided as something about her failing to have access really concerned her, so she took off in a race to get to the top floor. Booster dashed to keep up. “The director’s office also has an in-house penthouse, so he’s always on-hand.” She landed, swiped her card and this time the door opened, but not because of the card. It swung open on its own. “Michael?”
“Let me,” he said this time and dashed ahead to enter before her. It was still not yet morning and the floor was dark. As Booster entered, Kimiyo was behind him, hand raised as light shone from her to illuminate the space. “Euhm, Mr. Chanel?” They moved in further to no reply. It didn’t take them long to find out why, as they found what remained of the director in his office, cut in half as well as his CEO desk that he had been sitting at. They didn’t get very far before the building shook, as though it was struck by something, but there was a faint sound that Booster recognized. A muffled *BOOOOOOOOM!*
He grabbed the late Dr. Chanel’s ID card, still pinned to the poor man’s chest, and turned. “Boom tube. Stay here,” he urged and took off.
As he stepped into being from the Boom Tube, Steppenwolf adjusted the labels on his pin-striped suit before he leveled the rim of his fedora. The laboratory that he broke into was deserted, yet still he spoke aloud. “Pitiful! If a matter is to be done properly, then let it be by my own hand! I, Steppenwolf, who have slain beasts most foul and creatures of vast power, reduced to petty criminal! Incompetence, that is all this world is breed for,” he spat in disgust. The Apokaliptian strode forward, mindless of the scientific instruments in his way as he swatted them all aside. He beelined for a device on the opposite side of the room from his open Boom Tube. It was cylindrical and pure black and suspended between two poles, as it hovered in mid-air perfectly still. “Mindless mortals! They do not even know the capabilities of their own creations! Why, in the hands of the greatest predator the universe has ever know, I Steppenwolf, shall use this gravitational modulator to forge a wea–!”
Steppenwolf wasn’t able to complete that sentence as Booster Gold zoomed in and landed a solid uppercut beneath that goateed jaw. Steppenwolf staggered back but then swung for Gold, who managed to get an arm up to block that blow, and then land a sweeping haymaker across the godling’s jaw. “Didn’t we send you running and screaming like a little girl last time?”
“Hardly,” Steppenwolf glared as he recovered. Booster punched at him again, but he caught the hero’s fist and squeezed. When Gold grunted in pain, Steppenwolf took his turn to punch his foe in the face. Since he held Booster’s fist there was nowhere for the costumed man to go so Steppenwolf punched Booster in the face again. “I was not prepared to face the Martian, and the stasis recovery slumber Steppenwolf was forced to endure after the confrontation with that vile-yet-powerful Lilith left me far weaker than anticipated!”
“So the sun was in your eyes,” groaned Booster, but that earned him another punch to the face.
“I am most done with you!” With that, Steppenwolf drew his hand back with the intent of driving this punch through Gold’s protective forcefield. “Delight in the knowledge that you shall be slain by the hand of none other than St–!”
Once again, Steppenwolf was cut off and this time from the compressed air ‘pellet’ that had been fired into his open mouth from Blue Beetle’s BB hand gun, as the other half of the heroic duo had appeared. “I guess since you’re evil, we can let you off for failing to have good manners, what with the not asking and everything.” This caused Steppenwolf to choke badly enough that he let go of Booster Gold, as the shot had successfully interrupted his flow of air. Beetle bounded in, not content to let the evil new God to get his footing, and he leaped to kick Steppenwolf in the chest. That dove the villain back several steps, as he had already been staggered by the well-placed shot to his mouth. “Didn’t we send you off crying like a girl already?”
“Already said that,” groaned Booster Gold, as he got back to his feet after having had hit the floor when dropped.
“Well, I wasn’t here a moment ago to know what you said, now was I?”
“No, I guess not, but you could have guessed that I covered that already.”
“... you know, you kind of do have a point there. I should have known that you would have already gone there.”
“Thank you.”
“ARGH! The two of you are most foul!” Steppenwolf had regained his composure as the two heroes conversed, and now stood poised with his double-bladed war-axe in his hands. “No longer shall you vex me! I, Steppenwolf, have slain star-destroyers and conquerors of worlds, but never shall I top the pleasure of feeding your blood to my axe!”
“Euh, pardon me, but don’t you mean ‘thine blood onto mine axe’? I mean, if you’re going to go all half-old speaky on us and...”
“ARGHHHH!” That was as far as Beetle’s interruption got before Steppenwolf’s axe sweep around, meant to cleave his head clear off. Blue nimbly dodged, and Gold took quick aim with his wrist and fired a beam of energy, but Steppenwolf blocked that with a blade and advanced on the pair. The heroes retreated as they managed to avoid several more swings of that wicked, deadly axe.
“He killed Chanel,” Booster tossed out as he fired off several more shots, all of which Steppenwolf swatted aside with his weapon.
“What? Why?” That startled Beetle, enough so that he didn’t get off a shot with his pistol, though he had it up and ready.
“I don’t know, ask him!”
Before Blue could, however, Steppenwolf pressed his attack and rushed the two opponents. Beetle now got off a shot from his strobe gun, but Steppenwolf had his axe up to shield his eyes and Booster followed that with a shot from his hand again, that Steppenwolf easily anticipated and sidestepped. Blue then dodged but was caught by a kick and Gold made a dash up high but was punched, and together the two heroes struck a far wall solidly to collapse into a heap.
“Chanel’s dead,” Booster repeated as he rolled off of Beetle, that he had landed on. “I don’t know how or why, but he is. Cut clear in half.”
Steppenwolf turned away from them as he stalked back towards the hovering cylinder he came for, as he must have reminded himself of the reason he had come here. “That doesn’t add up,” Beetle answered as he got to his feet with a groan. “Look, his portal is still open, so he could just pop in here anytime he wanted. He doesn’t strike me as the type to concern himself with the killing of harmless old doctors or businessmen. He has underlings for that.”
“Hrm,” was as far as Booster got.
Steppenwolf swept his arm aside and his axe vanished from view once more. “Now, where was...yes! With this, almighty Darkseid’s hellspawn mines shall be reborn, the core of each altered to detonate a collapsing black hole! Whole planets shall be delivered unto glorious death by the hands of Steppenwolf! Why hunt leaders of nations when I can slay whole worlds of leaders?!”
“Now, that’s just rude, but then my pal did say you were lacking in manners already!” Booster dashed in and around in front of Steppenwolf and swung upwards with a powered uppercut. As the Apokaliptian’s jaw went back, Beetle leaped on his back and locked his arms around the godling’s with hands locked behind his neck for a hold.
Steppenwolf raged, and with a thrust of his arms he easily overpowered the all-too-human hold Blue Beetle had on him and made a grab for each hero. He snagged them both with tight, powerful chokeholds. The heroes struggled but Steppenwolf had proven to be quicker and stronger, and like any hunter who had caught his prey, was intend to watch it die.
*BANG!*
A shot from the doorway rang out and the bullet struck not Steppenwolf but the suspended black cylinder he had come for. It cracked, fractured and then shattered into millions of little shards, all that quickly imploded for nothing more than a puff of smoke – which also then imploded in upon itself as well.
Steppenwolf growled and tossed down Blue and Gold, both who choked and gasped for breath. Before the villain could speak, the figure in the doorway spoke. It was a man, or what half-passed for one, as the torn and battered Max Lord stood there with the smoking pistol. Half of his face and other chunks of skin were gone and the exposed robotic bits were all dinged, but functional. With him stood Kimiyo Hoshi. “It’s over. No more need for fisticuffs or grandstanding. I know I can’t kill you, or even hurt you, with this thing, neither would you gain anything by sticking around and wasting time punching us around anymore. Plus, my friend here behind me actually might be able to hurt you, if you really do want to find out. Time to go home and plan what to do with tomorrow.”
Steppenwolf considered this for a moment but turned and stalked off into his Boom Tube portal that had remained open. As he departed, he looked back long enough to say, “I’ll be back.”
There was a sudden, quick *BOOOOM!* as the portal closed and Max lowered his pistol. “Maybe next time, he’ll knock first.”
Three days later…
Everything had been cleaned up and the astrophysics lab on the forty-fourth floor had been reconstructed and everyone was back to work. The penthouse office and quarters of Kord Enterprises had been cleaned up, and even managed to have the name on the front door redone. It now read: Director of Operations and C.E.O., Maxwell Lord.
“You sure you don’t want to ditch and come out with us, Max? We’re supposed to be seeing some local singer about doing the soundtrack.”
“Debbie.”
“Hrm?””
“Debbie Gills, the musician we’re seeing. I swear, how can you forget everything that I tell you?”
“Well, that’s why I have you.” Booster smiled while Beetle shook his head.
Max let the boys have their fun for the moment, but then jumped in as he sensed an argument coming on. “Thanks for the offer guys, but I promised to do job here, didn’t I?”
“Convinced me,” Blue nodded, “and the board, I guess. With the fancy promotion and all, we should be asking you to take us out to lunch, huh?”
Max smiled. “I should do that, and soon, I promise, but for right now I’d really like to get going on this. There’s a lot to be done, and I don’t just mean with running this company. Kord Enterprises has diversified in abundance these last years and now has reached into...danged near everything. There’s also things like the guard that attacked me and looking into that, and how that loon Steppenwolf had a good sense of our inventory. And...”
“Okay, we get the idea,” Booster put up his hands in defeat. “Rain check then.”
“Most assuredly,” Max confirmed.
“And you’re feeling okay?”
“Fantastic in fact, thank you, Ted. You and Skeets did a real bang-up job putting me back together again. I feel so good, I almost feel human again.”
“About that...,” Booster cut in, but Beetle swatted him on the arm.
Max managed a chuckle. “The concern is appreciated gentlemen, but really, I’m fine. Also, get out! With this floor only getting the all-clear this morning and spending the last days bunking with you on that floor of yours, well, I could use my own space.”
“Gotcha’,” Blue said as he grabbed Gold’s arm and tugged, before his friend would potentially say anything else. “If you need us, you know where we are and...”
“All I need to do is put my lips together and whistle.”
Max gave them a wave and finally they went, and once the door was closed, he let loose with a deep, lingering sigh of relief. For the next four hours, he spent his time educating himself on all of the details on Kord Enterprises that he could. Sixty floors of some of the world’s leading work in nearly every important scientific field was being done here now, and all within the last few years. Ten sub-levels and then the fifty above ground, with his newly-granted penthouse office and leaving quarts perched at the top. Kord wasn’t a Wayne or LexCorp but had easily surpassed Starr Business after years of rocking the bottom dredges of the corporate world elite, somewhere just above QuickStart Enterprises. The prestige of Kord brought Max a great deal of immediate notice, as his research was interrupted by a number of congratulatory calls from other powerful CEOs, such as Talia Head from LexCorp.
That afternoon, Max took a tour of the building and didn’t bother to introduce himself to most of the places he visited. Most anyone he talked to wasn’t aware of who he was, as they were far too engrossed in their work to even be aware of what was happening outside of their laboratories. Everyone was pleasant, however, and overall Max was taken with the strong sense of cooperation and creative scientific spirit that predominated the building.
So…why had Shamir Chanel been murdered?
On his rounds, Max stopped by Kimiyo’s lab, and she once again vouched of her desire for him to come over and have dinner some evening with her and her children. A home cooked meal sounded like a fantastic thing, even if he had a robotic stomach, and when she wouldn’t relent, he did. He’d visit her tonight at seven.
Until then, Max knew he had more to do. He had to find some kind of answer.
When he looked into Dr. Chanel’s notes he found the computer records wiped clean. But there had been a notepad on the desk, one that revealed a simple scribbled note: no no no no no no no trouble / kord on -13
Max had to smile as he read that, because yes, that’s how he often felt about Ted and Michael. Their live-in residence was on floor thirteen, and surely the pair of them had to have been some kind of headache for Shamir.
“A headache for another night,” Max decided loud. He had a dinner date to get ready for.
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To Be Continued...
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