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xp_logsWondering if Maximus might be hiding out in a hospital, Crystal checks into the possibility. To her surprise, she finds him, but not as a patient. Crystal's reaction upon seeing him for the first time in more than two years is nowhere close to pleasant.
Attilan Date: December 11, 2009
Crystal smiled at at the nurse behind the desk. "Obrigada." Surely Maximus wouldn't be at a hospital, surely someone would have recognized him, yet there always existed the possibility that he could be hiding in a hospital. Perhaps he was even manipulating the minds of the doctors and nurses, and perhaps he would try to do the same to her. Her shields were at full-strength, though, and she would know if he tried to break through them. This time, she would be prepared.
Her current disguise was lower-key than her original one had been, yet it still kept people from recognizing her. While most people would be eager to help her had they known she was the Princess Crystal, she didn't know what the outcome of her search would be and she didn't want to risk having any negative behavior associated with her or the palace. Besides, after more than three months out on her own, she'd grown accustomed to doing things without the benefit of being Princess Crystal. After two years of being "Princess Crystal" to everyone, it had been a welcomed change.
Maximus couldn't, in fact, fully manipulate the minds of the hospital staff; that ability had gone with Fabian. He could cloud his own presence, however, make himself overlooked, a far more useful trick than any disguise. He sat now by the bed of the young boy he'd discovered, his ace in the hole, deepening the psychic trance that had kept the boy--to all appearances--comatose since the day Attilan had left the world.
Crystal made her way down the hall. She couldn't stay too long as she didn't want anyone getting suspicious of her. As quietly as she could, she looked into rooms, paying close attention to her shields so she could notice even the slightest hint of tampering, at least she hoped she could. Who knew how much fine control Maximus might have gained during the past two years? Still, she was on her guard, and that had to count for something.
His clouded presence wasn't particularly difficult to maintain, even with the added strain of stabilizing the boy's coma, but it did require Maximus to pay a certain amount of attention to the minds around him. Normally these were the open, rather sheeplike minds of mere humans; now and then he encountered one with a certain amount of natural shielding, whether caused by suspicion or overriding mental focus. The presence of a trained shield moving among the others felt like a shark's fin slicing through soft waves. It was coming closer.
And his little mental trick would do no more than splinter on those shields, he could tell already. Whoever it was, would be able to see him perfectly plainly. Maximus had to hurry--being caught was nearly as dangerous as the boy waking up untimely.
Crystal walked into one of the rooms that was home to comatose patients. Maybe Maximus could be hiding there. That could be a good way to avoid attention. Save for her and one other visitor, the only people in the room were the patients. One other person... her eyes widened as she caught sight of his face. Maximus!
Crystal. That disguise might have been enough to fool most, but not Maximus--at this range there was no mistaking the particular flavor of her mind, even behind shields. She was between him and the door, the window was too high . . . "Blackagar sent you, didn't he? I knew he couldn't let me--" In mid-rant, he leaped up from his chair, shouldering Crystal aside as he bolted for the door.
Patients. There were patients in the room, and outside there were more patients as well as doctors, nurses, equipment... she couldn't let him get away. An air shield formed in the doorway, preventing Maximus from leaving the room. "What are you doing here?"
"Because I'm going to tell you that, of course. Dear little Crystal." Gathering up what power remained to him, and damning Fabian's abandonment, Maximus cast the strongest mental bolt he could at his cousin. She had to drop the wall, had to let him out. He would not be taken here.
Crystal staggered back. She'd thought he might try to take over her mind again but hadn't thought he'd do something like that. Well, two could play at that game. A large gust of wind surrounded her former friend, picking him up and slamming him against the wall next to the door. Then she slammed him into the wall again before pressing air against him to keep him pinned to the wall.
Maximus struggled, but he was no match for Crystal's winds. "Now what?" he asked, glaring at her. "Hold me for your King, I suppose, let him finally finish me off?"
"Finally... you are his brother! He never had anything against you!" Crystal took a step forward. "We are going to leave this hospital and you are going to tell me why you came to this hospital and if you know anything about how and why Attilan came to be here."
"And Cain was Abel's. You forget, Crystal, I know the things that people don't say. But I don't know anything about what happened to Attilan. You of all people should realize that--you know what I planned. Attilan under me was to be the crown of the nations, not a city in a bottle." Reflexively, Maximus's gaze flickered to the boy on the bed.
"Oh yes, of course," Crystal replied, her eyes narrowing. "The mutants of Attilan would have simply adored you after you banished or killed their human family members." Seeing Maximus now, after almost two and a half years, brought back a flood of painful memories. "Killed them... like you did to my parents, to your parents! Wh..." She forced herself to stop. Now was neither the time nor the place. They had to get out of here, she had to take him somewhere where he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else.
"We are leaving," Crystal told Maximus in a matter-of-fact tone. "I am going to put you down and we are going to walk out of here. If you even look at someone the wrong way or if I think someone is acting strangely I will throw you to the other side of the hospital and send you flying out of a window. Do you understand?"
"I do indeed. You've grown quite violent these days, cousin. Are you sure you're quite well?" Maximus brushed himself off unhurriedly when Crystal released him from the wind's grip, and walked docilely enough in front of her down the hall. As they turned toward the elevators, though, Maximus feinted then broke sprinting for the stairwell. It was a desperate move, but he had little else left to him. If he could make it to the stairwell, if he could escape the hospital, if he could make his way back to his followers . . . far too many ifs.
Maximus's attempt to flee wasn't exactly surprising. After what he had done to their family, what he had done to her, could she really be surprised by anything he did? It was just as well that he was running, Crystal thought as she walked quickly, following him. As long as he didn't hurt anyone, he may as well leave the hospital as fast as possible without her having to carry him or throw him to the other side of the building with a wind. Crystal watched as Maximus entered the stairwall, following close behind but not close enough to make it obvious that this was a chase. Only a few people looked up as Maximus ran into the stairwell, and Crystal wasn't about to draw any more attention to either one of them.
Luckily, it was a small hospital, and there were only so many floors Maximus could go to. She had to hope that he intended to leave the hospital and wasn't going to try to hide out. She didn't want to risk hurting anyone else, but she wasn't going to let him escape, not after what he had done.
Once outside, Crystal took to the air, soaring after him and landing only a few feet away in the direction Maximus had been fleeing. "Going somewhere?" she asked in an icy tone. If Maximus tried to run again, he'd find himself airborne on a large gust of wind. "There is nowhere for you to go. You betrayed me. You betrayed my family. You betrayed my country. I have seen people in pain and anguish over been separated from friends and family and I know you must be happy about it. You would not have remained quiet for so long had you not been pleased with the change. I do not want to have to hurt you, but I will. Tell me what you know and you will not be harmed."
"Happy? Happy?" Maximus spat at Crystal's feet. "I wanted to rule this country. I wanted to bring it into the light of the mutant future, not vanish it off to some isolated backwater, barely eking out a life of subsistence as long as the fish remain plentiful. The only reason I've remained quiet is because I do not yet have the power to challenge my beloved brother for the throne, and once I do, once I take my rightful place, trust me that I will do everything in my power to return Attilan to its rightful place, and curse that boy for--" He broke off, looking stricken, then drew himself up into a haughty silence.
The boy? What boy? Wait, he'd been sitting by a bed at the hospital, but had he really just told her something, even by accident, or was he trying to trick her? Once upon a time, Crystal would have trusted everything Maximus said without hesitation. Crystal was no longer the trusting girl she had been back then. Still, somewhere deep inside, there had to be some spark of decency in him, didn't there? As insane and homicidal as his plan had been, he really had thought he'd been doing the right thing. People who were viewed as "evil" usually didn't see themselves that way. Crystal knew; she'd been privy to Maximus's thoughts on himself and his takeover plan.
"The boy," Crystal repeated. "He is the one responsible for this? Were you there to harm him? Can he return Attilan to where it belongs?" Despite herself, a glimmer of hope appeared. "Please, Maximus. You have the chance to make things right. No one outside of the palace knows what you have done. You can repair some of the damage that has been done. You did not bring us here on purpose, but you can send us home. You can do the right thing. Please."
"The right thing." Maximus sneered. "Hand my brother the people's unfailing devotion on a platter, you mean. And as for me--well, you said it yourself, I'm the murderer of our parents. I know what reward awaits me for 'making things right.'" He shook his head. "Your threats of a moment ago became you better than this false concern, dear cousin. Attilan will return under my rule or not at all."
Standing here just chatting wasn't doing any good, and the longer they remained here, the longer Crystal risked that someone would get hurt, or that Maximus might have some help come and harm her or someone else. "You want threats? Fine. Perhaps you have done something to that poor boy. Perhaps you have enslaved his mind. Perhaps if I kill you, right here and right now, he will be safe from you and then he can return Attilan to its proper location."
Maximus smiled thinly. "And perhaps he'll remain comatose for the rest of his days. Or perhaps you'll wake him up, and find that he's the devoted servant of his rightful king, and won't return you if I can't ask him to. Perhaps he no longer remembers how, or never knew to begin with. I've had two years with his mind, little Crystal; be careful what you assume."
"You do not get to call me that!" Crystal shouted, enraged by his use of her family's nickname for her. "You gave up that right when you used me, when you made me do things against my will!" Unfortunately, Maximus was right: she had no idea of what would happen to the boy if she ended Maximus's control over him that way. Really, she didn't know anything about the situation. She could end his life, make him pay for what he had done to her, to her family, and to the government officials he had slain, but she didn't know what that might do to the boy and to Attilan.
Crystal wasn't even quite sure what would happen if she hurt Maximus even the slightest bit. He could be tricking her and he hadn't even done anything to the boy, or he could be entirely connected with his mind. She had to do something, they couldn't just stand there forever, this was going nowhere, how could he have done this to her...
Crystal stepped forward and hurled her fist into his face. His unconscious body remained standing thanks to the winds she created around him. For a moment, Crystal just stood there, still off in her own world filled with rage, then reality slammed down around her. Someone could be watching. Crystal took a quick look around; no-one seemed to have noticed, or if they had they were ignoring it. Still, no sense in staying here. She would come back, but for now she had to make sure Maximus wouldn't escape again.
Two seconds later, they were airborne, headed to the house where Crystal had been staying.
Attilan Date: December 11, 2009
Crystal smiled at at the nurse behind the desk. "Obrigada." Surely Maximus wouldn't be at a hospital, surely someone would have recognized him, yet there always existed the possibility that he could be hiding in a hospital. Perhaps he was even manipulating the minds of the doctors and nurses, and perhaps he would try to do the same to her. Her shields were at full-strength, though, and she would know if he tried to break through them. This time, she would be prepared.
Her current disguise was lower-key than her original one had been, yet it still kept people from recognizing her. While most people would be eager to help her had they known she was the Princess Crystal, she didn't know what the outcome of her search would be and she didn't want to risk having any negative behavior associated with her or the palace. Besides, after more than three months out on her own, she'd grown accustomed to doing things without the benefit of being Princess Crystal. After two years of being "Princess Crystal" to everyone, it had been a welcomed change.
Maximus couldn't, in fact, fully manipulate the minds of the hospital staff; that ability had gone with Fabian. He could cloud his own presence, however, make himself overlooked, a far more useful trick than any disguise. He sat now by the bed of the young boy he'd discovered, his ace in the hole, deepening the psychic trance that had kept the boy--to all appearances--comatose since the day Attilan had left the world.
Crystal made her way down the hall. She couldn't stay too long as she didn't want anyone getting suspicious of her. As quietly as she could, she looked into rooms, paying close attention to her shields so she could notice even the slightest hint of tampering, at least she hoped she could. Who knew how much fine control Maximus might have gained during the past two years? Still, she was on her guard, and that had to count for something.
His clouded presence wasn't particularly difficult to maintain, even with the added strain of stabilizing the boy's coma, but it did require Maximus to pay a certain amount of attention to the minds around him. Normally these were the open, rather sheeplike minds of mere humans; now and then he encountered one with a certain amount of natural shielding, whether caused by suspicion or overriding mental focus. The presence of a trained shield moving among the others felt like a shark's fin slicing through soft waves. It was coming closer.
And his little mental trick would do no more than splinter on those shields, he could tell already. Whoever it was, would be able to see him perfectly plainly. Maximus had to hurry--being caught was nearly as dangerous as the boy waking up untimely.
Crystal walked into one of the rooms that was home to comatose patients. Maybe Maximus could be hiding there. That could be a good way to avoid attention. Save for her and one other visitor, the only people in the room were the patients. One other person... her eyes widened as she caught sight of his face. Maximus!
Crystal. That disguise might have been enough to fool most, but not Maximus--at this range there was no mistaking the particular flavor of her mind, even behind shields. She was between him and the door, the window was too high . . . "Blackagar sent you, didn't he? I knew he couldn't let me--" In mid-rant, he leaped up from his chair, shouldering Crystal aside as he bolted for the door.
Patients. There were patients in the room, and outside there were more patients as well as doctors, nurses, equipment... she couldn't let him get away. An air shield formed in the doorway, preventing Maximus from leaving the room. "What are you doing here?"
"Because I'm going to tell you that, of course. Dear little Crystal." Gathering up what power remained to him, and damning Fabian's abandonment, Maximus cast the strongest mental bolt he could at his cousin. She had to drop the wall, had to let him out. He would not be taken here.
Crystal staggered back. She'd thought he might try to take over her mind again but hadn't thought he'd do something like that. Well, two could play at that game. A large gust of wind surrounded her former friend, picking him up and slamming him against the wall next to the door. Then she slammed him into the wall again before pressing air against him to keep him pinned to the wall.
Maximus struggled, but he was no match for Crystal's winds. "Now what?" he asked, glaring at her. "Hold me for your King, I suppose, let him finally finish me off?"
"Finally... you are his brother! He never had anything against you!" Crystal took a step forward. "We are going to leave this hospital and you are going to tell me why you came to this hospital and if you know anything about how and why Attilan came to be here."
"And Cain was Abel's. You forget, Crystal, I know the things that people don't say. But I don't know anything about what happened to Attilan. You of all people should realize that--you know what I planned. Attilan under me was to be the crown of the nations, not a city in a bottle." Reflexively, Maximus's gaze flickered to the boy on the bed.
"Oh yes, of course," Crystal replied, her eyes narrowing. "The mutants of Attilan would have simply adored you after you banished or killed their human family members." Seeing Maximus now, after almost two and a half years, brought back a flood of painful memories. "Killed them... like you did to my parents, to your parents! Wh..." She forced herself to stop. Now was neither the time nor the place. They had to get out of here, she had to take him somewhere where he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else.
"We are leaving," Crystal told Maximus in a matter-of-fact tone. "I am going to put you down and we are going to walk out of here. If you even look at someone the wrong way or if I think someone is acting strangely I will throw you to the other side of the hospital and send you flying out of a window. Do you understand?"
"I do indeed. You've grown quite violent these days, cousin. Are you sure you're quite well?" Maximus brushed himself off unhurriedly when Crystal released him from the wind's grip, and walked docilely enough in front of her down the hall. As they turned toward the elevators, though, Maximus feinted then broke sprinting for the stairwell. It was a desperate move, but he had little else left to him. If he could make it to the stairwell, if he could escape the hospital, if he could make his way back to his followers . . . far too many ifs.
Maximus's attempt to flee wasn't exactly surprising. After what he had done to their family, what he had done to her, could she really be surprised by anything he did? It was just as well that he was running, Crystal thought as she walked quickly, following him. As long as he didn't hurt anyone, he may as well leave the hospital as fast as possible without her having to carry him or throw him to the other side of the building with a wind. Crystal watched as Maximus entered the stairwall, following close behind but not close enough to make it obvious that this was a chase. Only a few people looked up as Maximus ran into the stairwell, and Crystal wasn't about to draw any more attention to either one of them.
Luckily, it was a small hospital, and there were only so many floors Maximus could go to. She had to hope that he intended to leave the hospital and wasn't going to try to hide out. She didn't want to risk hurting anyone else, but she wasn't going to let him escape, not after what he had done.
Once outside, Crystal took to the air, soaring after him and landing only a few feet away in the direction Maximus had been fleeing. "Going somewhere?" she asked in an icy tone. If Maximus tried to run again, he'd find himself airborne on a large gust of wind. "There is nowhere for you to go. You betrayed me. You betrayed my family. You betrayed my country. I have seen people in pain and anguish over been separated from friends and family and I know you must be happy about it. You would not have remained quiet for so long had you not been pleased with the change. I do not want to have to hurt you, but I will. Tell me what you know and you will not be harmed."
"Happy? Happy?" Maximus spat at Crystal's feet. "I wanted to rule this country. I wanted to bring it into the light of the mutant future, not vanish it off to some isolated backwater, barely eking out a life of subsistence as long as the fish remain plentiful. The only reason I've remained quiet is because I do not yet have the power to challenge my beloved brother for the throne, and once I do, once I take my rightful place, trust me that I will do everything in my power to return Attilan to its rightful place, and curse that boy for--" He broke off, looking stricken, then drew himself up into a haughty silence.
The boy? What boy? Wait, he'd been sitting by a bed at the hospital, but had he really just told her something, even by accident, or was he trying to trick her? Once upon a time, Crystal would have trusted everything Maximus said without hesitation. Crystal was no longer the trusting girl she had been back then. Still, somewhere deep inside, there had to be some spark of decency in him, didn't there? As insane and homicidal as his plan had been, he really had thought he'd been doing the right thing. People who were viewed as "evil" usually didn't see themselves that way. Crystal knew; she'd been privy to Maximus's thoughts on himself and his takeover plan.
"The boy," Crystal repeated. "He is the one responsible for this? Were you there to harm him? Can he return Attilan to where it belongs?" Despite herself, a glimmer of hope appeared. "Please, Maximus. You have the chance to make things right. No one outside of the palace knows what you have done. You can repair some of the damage that has been done. You did not bring us here on purpose, but you can send us home. You can do the right thing. Please."
"The right thing." Maximus sneered. "Hand my brother the people's unfailing devotion on a platter, you mean. And as for me--well, you said it yourself, I'm the murderer of our parents. I know what reward awaits me for 'making things right.'" He shook his head. "Your threats of a moment ago became you better than this false concern, dear cousin. Attilan will return under my rule or not at all."
Standing here just chatting wasn't doing any good, and the longer they remained here, the longer Crystal risked that someone would get hurt, or that Maximus might have some help come and harm her or someone else. "You want threats? Fine. Perhaps you have done something to that poor boy. Perhaps you have enslaved his mind. Perhaps if I kill you, right here and right now, he will be safe from you and then he can return Attilan to its proper location."
Maximus smiled thinly. "And perhaps he'll remain comatose for the rest of his days. Or perhaps you'll wake him up, and find that he's the devoted servant of his rightful king, and won't return you if I can't ask him to. Perhaps he no longer remembers how, or never knew to begin with. I've had two years with his mind, little Crystal; be careful what you assume."
"You do not get to call me that!" Crystal shouted, enraged by his use of her family's nickname for her. "You gave up that right when you used me, when you made me do things against my will!" Unfortunately, Maximus was right: she had no idea of what would happen to the boy if she ended Maximus's control over him that way. Really, she didn't know anything about the situation. She could end his life, make him pay for what he had done to her, to her family, and to the government officials he had slain, but she didn't know what that might do to the boy and to Attilan.
Crystal wasn't even quite sure what would happen if she hurt Maximus even the slightest bit. He could be tricking her and he hadn't even done anything to the boy, or he could be entirely connected with his mind. She had to do something, they couldn't just stand there forever, this was going nowhere, how could he have done this to her...
Crystal stepped forward and hurled her fist into his face. His unconscious body remained standing thanks to the winds she created around him. For a moment, Crystal just stood there, still off in her own world filled with rage, then reality slammed down around her. Someone could be watching. Crystal took a quick look around; no-one seemed to have noticed, or if they had they were ignoring it. Still, no sense in staying here. She would come back, but for now she had to make sure Maximus wouldn't escape again.
Two seconds later, they were airborne, headed to the house where Crystal had been staying.
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