Crystal

*****CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! You, dear reader(s), have reached the last chapter of the first idea for the story Crystal! Like I said, there won't be any sex in this story for all my sex readers, but if you're following the plot, then you're in luck. I won't ruin the surprise of what happens, but I hope you enjoy it. This chapter is pretty long since a few of you guys kind of helped inspire me. Still yet, I hope you enjoy it and even if you didn't like the story, please comment. I'd like to know what your thoughts are, good or bad. -DM23*****

Heroes/Heroines

Commander Shinobay - Force fields, Eye vision

Osprey - Bird-like abilities

Ghost - Invisibility, Intangibility

Zipper - Enhanced Speed

Shell - Bulletproof, Enhanced strength

Jasper - Pyrokinetic, Flight

Crystal - Cryokinetic

Hyper - Flight, Hyperbeams

Cherry - Teleporter, Martial artist

Dot - Cat-like abilities

Dr. Walton - Multitasking

Villains/Villainesses

Dictator Jones - Mind control

Asphalt - Concrete-like skin, Enhanced Physical Abilities

C4 - Ninja, Explosives

One-Eye - Sniper, Intangibility

Acrobat - Echolocation, Flight

Dr. Genie - Mad scientist specializing in splicing

Ruthless - Enhanced strength, Martial artist

Mistress - Telekinetic, Flight

Giggles - Invisibility

Kraken - Monster

Max had a hard time falling asleep. He didn't know whether it was because of the uncomfortable position he was in, the crick in his neck, or the fact that the cannibal ninja was giving him a predatory look. Either way, he wasn't falling asleep and he was probably sure that it would piss off whoever he was going to meet. Then again, maybe it'll help stall time, as little as it might be, and allow Crystal and the rest of the heroes more time to come rescue him.

As if to remind him, Max's mind replayed the scene of each villain beating the heroes one by one. Then to rub it in everyone's face, Mistress had collapsed the building, most likely killing everyone in the building. Tears sprouted in his eyes but he held them back. He had to believe that the heroes (mainly Crystal) survived in some way. Their survival might be a small margin, but it was all Max had to bet on.

"Do you think you're girlfriend would mind you missing a limb or two?" C4 smirked. "As ugly as you are, I'm hungry enough to forget the stench and eat whatever I can."

Max gritted his teeth. He had the unfortunate luck to find that the only thing worse than C4 trying to kill him was trying to talk to him. To make matters worse, the reason why he was down here was to watch Max in case he tried to escape. 'As if that was possible,' Max thought. He was still bound and gagged from when he was on the roof. If it wasn't bad enough, he couldn't even pretend that he was alone since the chatterbox had no off switch. So basically speaking, Max was all ears.

"You know, I'm still surprised you were able to seduce a girl, much less a superhero," C4 said. "I'm mean, what girl would want to even look at you? You're face looks like one of those pink butted monkeys. That reminds me, did she dominate you in bed? I just can't see how you wear the pants in the relationship if she's stronger than you."

'How long will I have to go through this?' Max thought, groaning in misery.

"You have something to say?" C4 asked, thinking Max answered. He went over and took the gag from his mouth and tossed it aside. "What were you going to say?"

"Why won't you shut up?" Max said. In truth, he wasn't going to say anything, but his mouth suddenly developed a mind of its own and took the lead before the brain could even make a sentence.

"You want to repeat that?" C4 asked, taking the swords from his back.

"Why won't you shut up?" Max repeated. Again, his mouth spoke before his brain could even think up a valid response. "Why are you asking me all these questions?"

"I'm an inquisitive person," C4 answered.

"Oh, I thought it was because you wanted pointers on how to seduce Ruthless," Max laughed.

"Ruthless?! That monkey?!" C4 replied. "I wouldn't cross the world to save humanity if we were the last two humans on this planet." The door suddenly slammed closed and C4 was jumped from behind. Immediately, he was caught in a headlock as Ruthless pounded her fist in his head.

"Monkey, huh?! Wouldn't cross the world to save humanity, right?!" she growled.

"You bet I wouldn't," C4 told her, twisting out of her grasp. "You're musty, sweaty, and you have no sex appeal whatsoever."

"You wouldn't know sex appeal if it kicked your nuts to your tiny village," Ruthless smirked, watching the guys squirm. Knowing her, she might try it. Of course it wouldn't make it to the village, but they wouldn't time to worry about that.

"What are you doing here anyway?" C4 grumbled, knowing he lost.

"I came to tell you we made it to the base," Ruthless answered, then walked out the door.

"No sex appeal, remember?" Max smiled when he saw C4 staring a bit too long.

"Why do you care? You're a dead man walking anyway," C4 smiled back.

He grabbed Max and untied his legs so that he could walk. The moment his legs were free, Max shoved his foot straight in C4's stomach. C4's eyes bulged out as he fell to the ground while Max rolled out the way and used one of the swords to cut himself loose. He searched the room for other weapons but didn't see any. 'Where's a gun when you need it?' Max thought. It was obvious he had no idea how to hold a sword, much less wield one, but a weapon was better than nothing.

It took some time for C4 to stand, but when he did, he was no longer in pain; rather, he was pissed off. He picked up his other sword and, in three strides, stabbed his sword at Max. Without thinking, Max parried and rolled to the other side of the room.

C4 was just a step behind him as he brought down his sword towards Max's neck. Max flattened himself against the ground then kicked C4's legs from under him. Standing, Max was flabbergasted as C4 was standing just as fast as he was. Their swords clashed again as Max parried for his life, then got a cheap shot to C4's chin. Without missing a beat, C4 stuck his sword in the ceiling and used it as a pull-up to kick Max back to the wall. Quickly, he also sliced Max's wrist, forcing Max to drop his sword in hissing pain.

But adrenaline was still coursing through Max and the pain subsided as he dodged C4'S next stab attack and grabbed his sword arm. Max attempted to force the blade out of C4's hand while he was being pounded in the head from behind. It finally came loose however, when C4 tripped over his own two feet and they both fell back, with Max knocking the air out of him as he landed on top of C4.

Using the wounded arm, Max slammed his fist against C4's face until neither of them knew whose blood was covering C4's face. Suddenly the door was wrenched open and they both stopped their fighting. Ruthless walked up to them and kicked Max across his face, sending him flying into the corner of the room.

"I swear, you are without a doubt the worst ninja we could have ever asked for," she shook head, then proceeded to drag Max out the door.

*****

They had stopped at a piece of land in the midst of the ocean. The giant ship they were on was floating gently away from a spot of land a couple hundred yards away so not to get grounded. Mistress then stepped up and lifted the flightless villains, plus Max, to the spot of land. The moment he was set down, Max dived in the water and started swimming. Of course he wasn't going to make. The ship was already becoming a distant memory, but freedom was still available. Even if it was a long shot, it was still a chance for freedom. Besides, he wasn't going to let them turn him into some freak monster if he had a say in it.

Unfortunately, he didn't. Acrobat swooped down in an instant and scooped him out the water before Max was even fifty feet away from the tiny spot of land. The moment he was dumped, his hands were bound and he was gagged again. This time however, it was Ruthless next to him, not C4. Knowing pain would commence the moment he tried something, Max relented and waited for the inevitable.

Asphalt spread out his arms, stomped his foot, and suddenly brought his hands together over his head. Slowly, thick slabs of rock came up from all sides of the spot of land and morphed into a cube shaped around the villains and Max. Then, Asphalt shoved his hands down and the cube-like structure descended through the water. The rock was tight enough to keep water from coming into the cube and Max felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. 'This is really happening,' he thought.

It was a slow descent, but it was also a short distance to get to their destination. There was a type of platform the cube landed on, letting Asphalt know he went down low enough. He made a walkway connecting the cube to the base and held it open for the villains to walk through.

Ruthless picked Max up and shoved him forward to get walking. As he walked, Max passed by a glaring C4 and smirked at him. Enraged, he lunged for Max's throat. Instinctively, Max ducked underneath his arms and head butted C4's chin. Immediately, Max was pulled back and slammed against the wall as Mistress glared at him. She sent him against the walls a few times until Max was unable to stand, and then carried him via levitation to where Dictator Jones was waiting for them.

The room was like a cave, but Max knew better. Wires were hanging all over the place, a pair of stairs went up to a second floor, and different tunnels went to different rooms. The room itself was like a command center where a leader, villain leader in this case, would tell those under them their orders for the day and whatnot while they lazed in the chair watching multiple cameras from different parts of the world.

And in the chair was Dictator Jones. Frail and old, yes, but he was still Dictator Jones. If he could turn away in flee he would, but the levitation was keeping him from doing so. Or it was. Mistress dumped him on his ass, and pulled out the gag, before the Dictator before levitating herself to the second floor and disappearing from sight.

"We meet again, Max," Dictator Jones said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Max spat. "I've never met you in my life." Even though he was shaking in his boots (he was in a villainous lair, surrounded by the most dangerous villains, besides C4, and meeting the big, bad boss himself; cut him some slack) and everyone around him knew about it, he wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of letting them see it on his face.

To his surprise, Dictator Jones laughed. It was such a rare occurrence that all the villains' wore shocked faces. Even Mistress and Dr. Genie came in the room to see what made Dictator Jones, the cruelest man in the world, laugh like that.

"That's my doing," the Dictator composed himself. "I'll admit, I did that."

"Did what?" Max asked, not really wanting to know.

"I darkened your memory before you were adopted," Dictator Jones smiled.

"Ha! I bet I can take that to the bank," Max replied.

Frowning, Dictator Jones raised his arm and took hold of Max's mind. Pain erupted from his intrusion and Max fell to his knees, then his side, as Dictator Jones sifted through his memories. When he found the memories, which, to him, looked like black sheets of papers, he undid his work on Max's mind and pulled out.

"Max, you'll find out real quick that I can my work as painless as possible if you comply with me," Dictator Jones informed.

"So you're saying you want me to join you guys?" Max grunted.

"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.