Chase slowed his speed and broke right into the door of an empty motel room, throwing Max onto the bed, and tearing off his mask.

 

“What the heck is wrong with you!? What the heck where you doing!?” Chase yelled as soon as Max stood up “I told you to go to Amarillo and get the Safe House while I collected some needed Intel! But now because of you, I might not have gotten anything, and we are in another FREAKING MOTEL!!!!”

 

“Well I’m sorry I couldn’t do exactly as you asked, but there were some things that I needed to take care of!!” Max shot back

 

“Yeah you keep saying that, so why don’t you tell me exactly what you were doing!”

 

“My business!” Max growled

 

“Well, your business just cost me a lot of time and effort!” Chase growled right back, it was taking everything he had not to draw his claws “So tell me now!”

 

“I’m sorry but I just can’t,” Max said much calmer

 

Chase punched the wall and took a deep breath trying to figure out how best to proceed

 

Then he threw his backpack onto the bed and brought out his laptop

 

“You had better hope that I got something useful” Chase growled plugging his USB in and letting it decode, he clicked on the first file he saw… And he froze, he froze eyes widened staring at the computer, all anger suddenly leaving him, just frozen. Out of everything he would’ve expected to get, this was not one of them.

 

Seeing this reaction, Max slowly and cautiously walked over to the computer to see what was going on.

 

“Who’s the blond?” He asked

 

On the screen was a picture, it showed a much, much younger Chase wearing a black suit similar to the one the figure had worn, but no mask, standing beside a man that Max assumed was Tech, and a young girl, around the same age Chase was on the other side of Tech. They were all smiling, all completely happy as they posed for the camera, at some sort of race track or something.

 

Chase didn’t respond, so Max asked again

 

“Who’s the girl?” he said with a little more emphasis, but not much.

 

Chase pushed the laptop away and sat down

 

Chase stood in the empty apartment, all his info had led him here, but there was nothing here, anymore.

 

“Uuh… An old Friend” He responded “my only friend”

 

He saw the note, and picked it up, and read it

 

Max was about to say something else, but he figured that that wasn’t a wise move.

 

And for a moment, no one said anything… it was completely silent

 

“Stop, if you still respect me in any way, you will stop looking for me.”

 

Chase suddenly stood up

 

“I’m sorry”

 

“What?” Max asked completely dumbfounded

 

“I’m sorry” He repeated “This is all my fault, all of it. I’ve been trying, I really, really have. I’ve been trying to be the hero, but every time I try to do the right thing it just causes something else to spiral further out of control. Every move I make has the wrong consequence. I keep making the same mistakes”

 

Max had no idea what to say

 

“We all… make mistakes…” Max said

 

“Not like mine,” Chase said somberly “I love these powers, they are the main thing I define myself by, but every time I try to use them for good, I end up hurting everyone and making it worse! How could you get over the guilt of loving a gift that you can only use for evil!?”

 

“I understand” Max stated, thinking back to the hospital

 

“No, you really don’t” Chase shot back

 

“Yes I do” Max insisted

 

“No, you don’t!” Chase thundered

 

“Yes, I do! I killed my grandmother!” Max yelled

 

“I KILLED MY MOM!!”

 

Max froze,

 

“I WATCHED THE LIFE DRAIN FROM HER EYES!! SHE WAS SCARED… TERRIFIED… OF ME!!”

 

At that Chase stopped, even though he was the one speaking them, those words were like a sword in the chest.

 

Max was speechless, he saw tears, genuine tears, in his eyes, he looked traumatized, and the tears started to fall.

 

“I killed my mom.” He stated holding back as much of the emotion

 

“I killed my mom! My best friend, my only friend! The one who helped me… she’s gone, nowhere to be found, and probably hates me! My Dad is an insane socio-psycho- whatever path! And through all of it, I can’t do the one thing that I need to do! The one thing that I need to do to save everyone!” He yelled punching a hole in the wall as a single tear sank into the carpet “Be. The. Hero”

 

He collapsed onto the bed, head in his hands, breathing heavily, regaining himself. His shadow flickered twice, but no one noticed.

 

Max just stood there… what would you have done?

 

“…So Tech…” Max stated awkwardly, Chase looked up at him “What happened tonight… He will do that to others?”

 

Chase took a deep breath and stood up,

 

“If they get in his way, he won’t hesitate”

 

Max closed his eyes, watching the images flash through his mind, and coming to a decision.

 

“Ok” Max said opening his eyes

 

Chase looked up at him,

 

“Ok, what?” He questioned

 

“I’ve decided”

 

“Decided what?” Chase asked again

 

“Decided to tell you,” Max said again, much more seriously than Chase had ever seen him, “So sit down, because you need to listen”

 

Chase complied,

 

“Your Dad was right… Paradox’s, that’s what we’re called, but there are a lot more of us than you think,”